Falling Feathers
by Morria
Summary: Akemi Hato had no idea what she saw in Sasuke Uchiha. He was a dick most of the time, and his hair looked like a chicken's butt. But he had his moments. Maybe those fangirls were onto something... Sasuke X OC, Obviously. Possible bits of NaruHina. Rated T for Language, Possible Sexual Innuendos, and Violence. Blame my brain. PARTIAL HIATUS (explained in Authors note)
1. Chapter One and Prologue

Falling Feathers

**People who have read this already, don't panic and read the Author's note at the bottom!**

Prologue

I would always remember the day I met him. Sasuke Uchiha. We were seven, and it was the first day of school. He wasn't particularly friendly to me, or anyone else; he was shy, and was probably afraid of the fangirls, who were crazy for him even then. But even though I never really talked to him, I could tell he was happy then. His eyes had a brightness that they lacked now, and he smiled occasionally. That smile would disappear the next year.

*Six years earlier

Light shined gently through the windows of the academy. Children ages six and seven animatedly chattered to one another, eager to make new friends. It was the first day of school, and Akemi Hato was excited. There were so many new people that she had never seen before. Of course, she recognized a few; Ino Yamanaka, whose family ran a flower shop that her aunt liked to visit, and Naruto Uzumaki, a boy that her aunt and uncle usually fought about. Akemi's aunt liked him, but her uncle didn't. She didn't know why they argued about him, and she didn't ask.

The noise of talking diminished as the teacher came into the room. He was a tan man with kind eyes, and a large scar on his nose. He smiled slightly as he introduced himself.

"Hello everyone, my name is Iruka Umino, and I will be your sensei for the next few years. Take your seats and as I call roll, tell us a thing or two about yourself."

The students sat in random spots, friends choosing to sit next to one another while the children who didn't know very many people filled in the gaps. A minute later young Akemi found herself sitting in between a dark haired boy and Naruto. As the other children introduced themselves, she felt a burning in the back of her head, and turned around to see a pink haired girl glaring at her. The girl stuck her tongue out at her and Akemi turned back around, confused.

"Hato, Akemi." Surprised, Akemi stood up clumsily.

"Oh, uh, here. I'm seven, I like drawing and training, and my aunt and uncle." She said, sitting back down on her seat. The introductions continued and class began. As Iruka-sensei began to talk, the grey haired child turned to the boy to her left, who she had learned was Sasuke Uchiha.

"Hi, I'm Akemi." The boy seemed to mentally debate on replying, before speaking.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha."

*Present

And though we never became friends or talked, he didn't hate me. And looking back on it, that was an achievement in itself.

One- I meet the Number One, Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja

It was chaos as my family and I attempted to get ready for the day. Keyword, _attempted._ My uncle, a jonin, had to go on a mission to Grass Country, and it was my cousin's first day of school. Now, one may ask why it was so difficult. I will tell you why. My uncle, Noboru Hato, despite being a jonin, had always been extremely disorganized. So was my cousin. It seemed to run in the family.

So, my uncle, being- well, _my uncle,_ woke up 40 minutes after his alarm went off. He was supposed to meet the client and his team at 7:30. It was 7:20, and he had woken up ten minutes ago. I got up at 6:45, and though I should've woken him up, I figured he'd never learn if his bad habits didn't bite him in the ass. I was making good time this morning, mainly because I had to get my cousin Suzu ready for her first day of school. She was five, and she was a bundle of energy. _Loud_ energy.

As I was pulling my dove grey hair into a bun, I heard the familiar shout of Suzu from downstairs.

"Akemi-neechan!" She started, and I could tell by her tone that she had lost something or broken something or worse. I sighed; just when I thought things were going smoothly.

"I can't find my shoes!" I paused, thinking about where her sandals might've been hiding.

"Did you check under the couch?" I yelled back and there was a pause.

"...Of course!"

"Check under the couch, Suzu."

"Found them!" I smiled; my family was tiring, but I loved them.

I walked downstairs, hairbrush in hand.

"Suzu, come over here. I need to fix your hair." The five year old froze, looking at me with wide eyes.

"No!" She shouted, putting her hands on her head and running away from me on her tiny legs. I grinned. So she was going to play this game. I wanted to chase after her, but I knew what would be more effective.

"Oh well then. I guess you'll just have to go to school with your hair in a bird's nest. I don't have time to fight with you. Let's go." I said, turning around and heading for the door that my uncle had walked out of several minutes ago in a rush.

"Wait!" I smirked.

"Come over here." I said, as I sat down on the couch.

I pulled the hairbrush through her grey strands, gently dismantling the tangles in her wavy hair. When I was done, I grabbed a light pink headband and stuck it in her hair.

"There. Now isn't that better. I'll make you some ce-" I stopped as I glanced at the clock. 7:40.

"Shit! Nevermind, let's go!" I said, grabbing her backpack, my bag, and an apple for her as I dragged her through the door, ignoring her yell of "You said a bad word!"

Even though we had twenty minutes until her school started, I couldn't go as fast as I wanted with her, and it was nearly on the other side of Konoha. Our old compound was on the southwest side of the village, and the normal school was around the center of the village, more on the east side than the west. And I wanted to be early so I could walk her in.

A little over fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the building for grades 1-5 with a few minutes to spare. We walked inside, discarding the apple core in the nearest trashbin and quickly found her classroom. Before entering the room, I squatted down to Suzu's height, smoothing her hair and fixing her headband.

"Okay, do you remember what Uncle and I said last night?" I asked her, handing her her backpack.

"Yeah. Make friends, have fun, and try not to piss off the teacher." She said cheerily, and I playfully tapped her on the head.

"Right. And don't say piss." I laughed.

"Now get in there, have fun! Mrs. Takashi will pick you up when school's over, since your dad's on a mission and I get out later. Love you!" I said as I turned and left the school.

* * *

With thirty minutes to spare, I walked through the streets of Konoha, making sure to stay within range of the academy. Fortunately, Ichiraku Ramen was nearby. I checked my pocket for money and found a few 5 ryo bills. I grinned; it looked like I was having ramen for breakfast. _Pork ramen, here I come._

()()()()

I sat next to Hinata as Iruka-sensei listed the teams. As he spoke, I couldn't help but wonder how Naruto managed to become a genin overnight. The loud blonde looked up as his name was called as Iruka-sensei listed Naruto's team.

"..Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha," He continued, causing a happy shout from the pink haired girl.

" and, due to uneven amounts of academy students this year, we are adding Akemi Hato to genin Team 7."

My eyes grew wide at this; four genins in a squad? That was unusual. I looked down a few rows to where my new teammates were all sitting. Hinata looked at me with a sort of sad look on her face.

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan. You'll still see Naruto around. " I said, patting her on the arm. Everyone knew about Hinata's humongous crush on the blonde, except Naruto himself.

"Next, Team 8; Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga."

"Team 9; Haruhi Tenzai, Mika Kureno, and Daisuke Karasu."

"Team 10; Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi." I could've laughed at the expression on the Yamanaka girl's face. Chouji continued to munch as if nothing had happened.

"That's it for groups." All of the sudden, Naruto stood up, angrily pointing to Sasuke.

"Iruka-sensei! Why is a top student like me on the same team with this guy?!" Naruto yelled.

"Sasuke graduated at the top of the class. You were at the bottom." Said Iruka-sensei, and everyone laughed. I couldn't hold back a chuckle at the display.

"This happens because we need to balance abilities between the groups." Iruka-sensei continued.

"Don't pull my leg, Dobe." Sasuke said in a serious tone.

"What did you say?!" Naruto yelled in reply. He was yelling more than usual today.

"Do you want to fight, Dobe?"

"Dobe?! Why you-"

"Stop it, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, and the blonde immediately stopped.

"Sorry…"

"I'll introduce the jonin senseis this afternoon. Until then, meeting adjourned!" Iruka-sensei announced, and the new genins left the class.

As I stepped outside, I saw Sakura looking around in confusion.

"Where did Sasuke-kun go? I was hoping that since we're on the same team now, we could have lunch together." Sakura said, looking for Sasuke. Naruto excitedly ran past me and up to Sakura.  
"Hey Sakura-chan! I was thinking that since we're teammates now we could go and eat lunch together!"

"Why do I have to eat with you?" Sakura asked (rather rudely If you ask me).

"Well, we're on the same team so…"

"You're annoying."

I winced; ouch. The pinkette then continued to search for her precious 'Sasuke-kun'.

"*cough* bitch *cough*" I said quietly, and Sakura glared at me, before making a *hmph* sound and continuing on her search.

"Ne, Naruto, want to get some ramen?" Naruto immediately perked up at the word 'ramen'.

"Really?"

"Yup, c'mon. I figure I need to get along with at least one of my teammates. Let's go."

()()()()

I happily slurped at the Miso Ramen and looked over to Naruto, who was already on his fourth bowl.

"Dang, you can really pack it away. Do you have a hollow leg or something?" I joked, and the blonde looked at me with a grin.

"I just really love ramen, dattebayo!" He said with a bright grin and I laughed at the bit of egg that was stuck in his teeth.

I set my chopsticks down.

"So, Naruto, what do you think of the people on our team?" He seemed to consider this for a moment, before replying.

"Well, I like Sakura-chan, even though she can be rude sometimes… But I'm sure she'll come around! You seem nice; I like your choice in ramen." He paused, then continued.

"And I hate Sasuke-teme. He thinks he's better than everyone just because he's top of the class." Naruto then proceeded to mock the Uchiha with grumbles of "Do you want to fight, Dobe?"

I chuckled, then checked the clock on Ichiraku's wall.

"We should probably head back."

"Aww, but I didn't even get to the fifth bowl!" Naruto whined, and it was so childish that I laughed out loud.

"C'mon, let's go meet up with Pinky and His Majesty."

()()()()

Turns out, Sasuke wasn't there yet, so we were left with Pinky. We were headed down the street when we saw Sakura sitting alone on the bench. Naruto asked me to stay since 'it was his chance'. I could see her trying to smile (and failing) as the blonde came up to her. Naruto raised his hand in greeting with a big smile.

"Hey, Sakura-chan d-" He suddenly stopped, grasping his stomach and turning green as he abruptly ran in the other direction, yelling something about milk.

I laughed.

* * *

**Okay, so you guys that have already read this, don't panic. Yes, I have started working on this again. Will updates be slow? Probably. Can I guarantee I will stick with this consistently? No. I am re-updating these chapters because I made a few changes. Don't worry, you don't need to reread everything if you don't want to. All I did was change 'Ayano Hatoko' to 'Akemi Hato', so it's no longer the Hatoko clan, it's the Hato clan. Also, her uncle is now named Noboru instead of Nobu. Besides that, there's really just minor, insignificant changes. Also, I will post the rest of the chapters tomorrow. It's late at night and I had two concerts and a huge semester test today, so I am tired as hell. **

**Disclaimer: I'm a 14 year old American girl. Do I seriously look like I own Naruto?**

**Okay, and since some of the readers will undoubtedly be watching in dub, I have included translations for your convenience. I rememebr back in the day when I watched in dub *shivers at the thought* and I didn't even know what a hitai-ate was or Konohagakure was. So here you guys go. Please keep in mind I am in no way proficient or even passable in Japanese and I just started watching anime again, so these translations may have mistakes. They're pretty much meanings that I've gathered from fanfic, manga, anime, and narutopedia. Also occasionally wikipedia. **

**Translations**

_-neechan/neesan/nee:_ A suffix used to call someone big sister i.e. 'Ayame-neechan, can we have the tonkotsu ramen today?'

_ne: _hey, so, huh i.e. 'Ne, Daisuke-kun, can we go on a picnic today?' or 'You have a big appetite, ne, Chouji?'

_dattebayo: _The Japanese *cough* actual *cough* version of Naruto's signature saying, 'Believe it!' i.e. 'I'm gonna beat my record of 21 bowls of ramen, dattebayo!'

_Konoha: _The leaf (the village) _Konohagakure _is 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves'

_dobe: _dead last. Sasuke commonly uses this term to describe our dear knuckleheaded ninja


	2. Chapter Two

Two- First Impressions: I Don't Like You

I groaned in boredom. Our sensei was a little late. And by a little, I meant three hours late. What the hell was taking him so long? Naruto looked out into the hallway, searching for the missing jonin.

"He's late." Said Naruto, and I snorted.

"No shit." I mumbled.

"Come sit down Naruto." Sakura said.

"Out of all the jonin, we get the one that's three hours late." I grumbled angrily, earning nods of agreement from Sakura, Naruto, and even a grunt from Sasuke, to my surprise. I wasn't fluent in 'Hn' but I figured that it meant he agreed.

Suddenly, Naruto stood up, looking like an idea came to his big blonde head. He dragged a chair to the door, grabbing an eraser. He chuckled mischievously as he set the eraser in between the door and the wall. I sweatdropped; so far I liked Naruto, but he...seemed like an idiot. Would a jonin really fall for such a simple prank? Our heads quickly turned as we head footsteps down the hall and Naruto hastily pushed the chair back and sat down. Looked like I was about to find out.

A grey-haired jonin stepped into the room, pausing as the eraser fell on his head. Naruto immediately started snickering as Sakura started blabbering about how _she _told Naruto not to, but he didn't listen. I sighed and leaned my head on my hand.

He looked at us for a moment.

"How should I say this… My first impression of you guys is.. I don't like you." I slammed my head down on the desk in response. Was this guy for real?

"Well fine, we don't like you either, asshole." I replied into the desk childishly.

* * *

We all sat on the roof of the building with our new sensei in front of us. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke sat on a step or two above me, and I sat in the middle a few steps down.

"Let's see, why don't you introduce yourselves." The man started.

"Introduce ourselves? What should we say?" Asked Sakura, and my eye twitched in irritation.

"Does it really matter? It's not that hard to introduce yourself." I grumbled and Sakura glared at me.

"Well I just wanted to know the specifics."

"Just tell us what you hate, what you like, some hobbies, and your dreams."Said the jonin.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself first, Sensei?" I asked him.

"Me?" He pointed to himself.

"I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no intentions of telling you my likes and dislikes." He started, and we looked up in surprise while Sasuke's scowl deepened a bit.

"As for my dream…" He trailed off.

"I have a few hobbies."

"All we found out was his name." Sakura grumbled quietly and I found myself agreeing with Pinky. I sweatdropped. Anyways, Naruto began.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He began with a grin, and picked up his headband.

"I like cup ramen, but I like the Ichiraku ramen the Iruka-sensei bought for me even more. I hate the three minutes that I have to wait for cup ramen." I laughed at his frown at the thought of waiting for his precious ramen to finish. He continued.

"My hobby is to eat and compare cup ramen! And my dream is to become the greatest Hokage! I'm going to make all the villagers recognize my existence!"

"I see. He was grew up in an interesting way. Next." Said Kakashi-sensei.

"I'm Sakura Haruno! I like.. well, the person I like is…" She trailed off, blushing, and looked obviously at Sasuke. I scowled.

"And my hobby is… Well, my dream is to…" She blushed and shook her head, then 'Kyah!'d'. _Probably to have shower sex with Sasuke or something…_ I thought.

"And? What do you hate?" Asked Kakashi-sensei. She debated this for a moment, before replying.

"Naruto! And I don't like Akemi!" I scoffed.

"Feeling's mutual, Pinky." I replied.

"Most girls her age must be more interested in love than ninja training." Kakashi-sensei said to himself. Sasuke began.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are many things that I hate, and not very many things that I like." Sakura looked saddened at this. Did she really think that Sasuke would profess his undying love or something?

"I have an ambition that I have no intention of leaving as a dream. The revival of my clan, and to kill a certain man." I raised my eyebrows at this. The revival of his clan was a bit expected- hell, I wanted to make my clan larger- but to kill someone? That was a bit morbid for a twelve year old. Kakashi-sensei didn't look surprised at this, but we all stared at him for a moment.

"I hope he's not referring to me.." Naruto mumbled to himself. Sakura blushed.

"Sasuke-kun _is _cool." She whispered to herself and I blanched.

"Seriously? _That's_ what she gets out of it?" I asked myself quietly and put my hand over the bridge of my nose in exasperation.

"Well, I guess it's my turn. I'm Akemi Hato, I like drawing, training with my uncle, and my falcon, Tori-kun. He's not that good yet, but I'm training him to be like a messenger hawk and help me with things like a ninken." I started, and Sasuke looked at me like I was stupid for a moment.

"What?"

"You named your falcon.." He started and I cut him off.

"I was five, give me a break."

"Anyways, things that I don't like.. I don't like the color orange- no offense, Naruto- and I don't like fangirls." At this I pointedly looked at Sakura, glaring. All they cared about was their precious Sasuke-kun. What was the big deal about him? Yeah, he was attractive, I wasn't denying that. But, his hair faintly resembled a bird's ass and he was rude and arrogant.

"Uh, hobbies. They include drawing and playing/training with Tori-kun, and training with my uncle Noboru. Pretty much the same as my likes. Dreams…. I'd like to make Jonin rank, maybe ANBU. And also, I'd like to make the Hato clan big again. My family are the last." I finished, and blushed a bit when I realized that my introduction was longer than everyone else's. I think I saw Sasuke glance over at me when I said that my family were the last but I probably just imagined it.

"You four all have interesting personalities. We're going to begin a mission tomorrow."

"Ooh! A mission! What is it!" Three guesses on which blonde yelled that.

"Something that all five of us can do."

"What what what?!" Naruto yelled childishly, and I grinned at my teammates kid-like personality. There was a dramatic pause as we waited for Kakashi-sensei's answer.

"Survival training!"

A cricket chirped in the distance as we stared at Kakashi-sensei in slight confusion.

"Uh, Sensei, why are training when we just got out of the academy? What's the point?" I asked, voicing what we were all wondering. Suddenly, Kakashi-sensei started chuckling, which evolved into creepy laughter. What was so funny?

"What's so funny, Sensei?" Asked Sakura, and we waited for his response.

"Out of the twenty eight graduates, only nine- or ten -are going to become genin. The other eighteen will be sent back to the academy." My chin dropped and my mouth hung open.

"In other words, this training is going to be a very hard test, with a dropout rate of 60%." Kakashi finished, and we all stared in shock.

"What the hell?! I've been in the academy for nearly six years, and you're telling me I might have to go back for another year?! I like Iruka-sensei and all, but I can't spend another year in that classroom!" I yelled in anger.

"No way! I went through all that trouble.. Then what was the exam for, dattebayo!?" Agreed Naruto, adding in his odd saying for emphasis. Kakashi scoffed in amusement.

"That? It just picks out who's able to become genin."

"Nani?!"

"Bullshit.." I exclaimed under my breath.

"Anyways, I'll determine whether you pass or fail tomorrow. Bring your ninja equipment and meet at 5 AM!"

Naruto stared at the ground in shock, and I could tell that he was freaking out over what Kakashi-sensei said. Sakura seemed deep in thought, probably telling herself she had to pass for the sake of love or something. Sasuke clenched his hands together, and I noticed they were shaking. I guess even the great prodigy was fretting over this. I looked down to my own hands, which were clasped in a similar fashion; I gritted my teeth. I thought back to what Kakashi-sensei had said earlier. '_How do I say this… My first impression of you guys is.. I don't like you.' _ I came to my conclusion.

"Okay, meeting dismissed. Oh, I almost forgot… don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up if you do." He said nonchalantly and left.

The silence was deafening as I voiced my conclusion.

"Well, we're fucked."

* * *

I stared at the apple on the counter. The apple stared back. I stared at the apple. The apple stared back. My stomach rumbled, interrupting us. Surely it wouldn't hurt if I just had a small snack… right? But Kakashi-sensei said not to eat breakfast… But then again, I had a stomach of steel. I'd eaten an entire pizza when I was eight at my birthday party. Surely I wouldn't throw up. But I didn't know how hard the training would be.. My brow furrowed as I glared at the infuriating fruit.

"Damn it, fine! I'll go without breakfast. You win, Kakashi-sensei." I gave in frustratedly. But, just in case, I snuck the apple into my shuriken pouch. It was large, and I rarely used them, preferring the trusty kunai.

I was glad that I had the house to myself for once, even though I didn't get to enjoy it since I had to leave to go to Hell- training. I meant training. Suzu, after learning that I had to go and wouldn't be able to get her ready, had immediately asked to spend the night at 's house. Mrs. Takashi was a civilian woman who lived outside the clan compound. She outwardly had a harsh appearance, but I had known her since I was three, and she was a gentle soul. She had a daughter a year older than Suzu, so naturally they were the best of friends.

Before leaving the house, I looked into the mirror on the closet door in the living room. I looked at the girl reflected back at me. Her grey hair was pulled into a bun and her light blue eyes stared into the mirror. I could see the twin black and white handles of two katana hanging from shoulder straps. Her sleeveless shirt left her arms bare, which were wrapped in bandages from the middle of her forearm down, and a Konoha headband was tied around her neck. This girl was a kunoichi. I was a kunoichi. I nodded at my reflection, ready to start the day.

()()()()

The sky was still a pale purple as we arrived at the training ground. I noticed Tori-kun flying overhead as we greeted each other.

"Ohayo.." Said Sakura, head bent down in sleepiness.

"Hey.." Said Naruto, lacking his usual enthusiasm.

"Don't talk to me until I've finished my coffee.." I said in a serious tone. I hadn't finished the cup yet, and I started gulping the warm liquid as soon as I finished talking. I finished with a sigh of happiness. Sasuke said nothing, which I was learning seemed to be his usual attitude.

And then we sat on the ground and waited. And waited. I was pretty sure I almost fell asleep a few times, but I wasn't sure. After what seemed like forever, the asshole arrived.

"Good morning." I scowled in reply.

"You're late!" Yelled Naruto and Sakura in unison. I sighed.

"A black cat crossed my path so.."

"Lies." I said, my eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Kakashi-sensei coughed.

"Let's move on." He walked over to a log, where a timer was sitting.

"It's set for noon. You have one hour to take one of these bells from me." He shook the three bells in his hand.

"Anyone who doesn't get a bell doesn't get lunch. You'll be tied to that post, and I will eat lunch in front of you." Said Kakashi-sensei. So that was why he said not to eat breakfast…. Well, as long we we all got bells we'd be fine.

"But Kakashi-sensei, why are there only three bells?" Asked Sakura.

Oh no.. There were only three bells in Kakashi-sensei's hand. One of us wouldn't be getting lunch. My stomach growled in protest.

"At least one of you won't be getting a bell, and will be tied to the post. That person will be sent back to the academy." I gulped; since there were four people on our team, that could actually happen… Who was it going to be?

"You can use your shuriken and kunai. If you want to get a bell from me, you'll have to come at me with the intent to kill."Kakashi-sensei said, jingling the bells around.

"But that's too dangerous, Sensei!" Protested Sakura. I looked at her.

"Look, we're shinobi and kunoichi now. Yeah, one of us could get hurt, but we could also get hurt, or even killed on a mission. We knew what we were getting into." I replied. Naruto seemed to have a different thought.

"Yeah, it might be dangerous for you, sensei! You couldn't even dodge a chalk eraser!"

"In society, those with lesser abilities complain more. Ignore the one with the lowest score." Kakashi said, and I saw Naruto clench his fist.

"In any case, Akemi's right. You knew what you were getting into when you joined the academy. We'll begin when I say 'Ready, Start!'" Then Naruto pounced.

All of the sudden he was going towards Kakashi-sensei with a kunai. It happened so quickly. One moment Naruto was about to hit Kakashi-sensei, the next moment Naruto was facing away from him with his own kunai aiming into his skull. _Woah.. So this is how good a jonin is…_

"Don't get so hasty. I didn't even say start. But, at least you have the will to kill me now. Ready, Start!"

And then we were hiding. I saw Sasuke a tree or two away, up in it's branches. I was at the bottom of my tree, wedging myself in between the trunk the the thick bushes that covered my head. I'm pretty sure Kakashi-sensei was saying something, but I couldn't hear him very well from where I was. Everyone was hiding. Except for Naruto.

"Hey! Let's have a match! Fair and square!" He announced, a large grin on his whiskered face. _Is he serious?.. _Naruto was my friend, but he was a freaking idiot. They were talking to each other, but I could only hear Naruto.

"What's weird is your hairstyle!" I placed a hand on my mouth to stifle a laugh. I actually kind of liked Kakashi-sensei's hair. It was grey like mine, and it looked very fluffy. Then Naruto started running to Kakashi-sensei, who reached a hand into his bag and Naruto froze. Kakashi-sensei pulled out…. an orange book. A familiar orange book. Icha Icha Paradise? He read those pervy books too? I only knew what they were because my uncle read them. Naruto seemed just as surprised as I was,and even Sasuke had raised his eyebrows a bit in shock.

"Well, what're you waiting for, come and get me." Said Kakashi-sensei as he started to read. And then Naruto was running at him again. He punched Kakashi-sensei, who blocked it. Kick. Duck. Punch. But this time, Kakashi-sensei disappeared and appeared right behind Naruto. _Damn it Naruto.. You're not supposed to let the enemy get behind you._ Kakashi's hand was in a.. I think it was Tora seal. I knew it was used for katon jutsus. Was he going to use ninjutsu on Naruto?

"Naruto, run! You're going to die!" Yelled Sakura, revealing her location. I doubted Kakashi-sensei would kill Naruto, but if he was going to use ninjutsu, the blonde would get burned, at least. A glint came to Kakashi-sensei's eye as he announced his attack.

"Hidden village of Konoha's secret master taijutsu technique, A Thousand Years of Pain!" He yelled, and stuck his.. fingers? in Naruto's ass (at least that's what it looked like). The blonde immediately yelled in pain and jumped into the air, screeching. An amused smile came to my face; so it wasn't a deadly ninjutsu, it was a funny technique.

"Two idiots.." I heard Sasuke whisper to himself.

"Come on, it was amusing." I whispered to him and he just looked at me with a frown. I shook my head. Okay, if he wanted to be a grump that was fine by me. Naruto fell into the water.

I looked at Kakashi-sensei, who was reading his book again. There was no way we'd be able to beat him by ourselves.. Suddenly, two shuriken came flying out of the water, and Kakashi-sensei caught them on his fingers, never looking away from his book. Naruto came crawling out of the water, coughing.

"What's the matter? If you keep this up, you won't get lunch." I frowned as my stomach ached.

"I can still fight even if I'm hungry!" Naruto yelled, and I saw Sasuke and Sakura with expressions similar to mine. I knew what we were all thinking; lunch. Then a bunch of Narutos popped out of the water. Bunshin? What was he doing?

"This is my best jutsu: The Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yelled and my eyes grew wide. Kage bunshin? What was that? I saw them moving towards Kakashi-sensei and my eye grew wide; they weren't just images. They were for real. As Kakashi-sensei was being distracted by the clones, a Naruto jumped and grabbed him from behind, catching us all by surprise. _Way to go, Naruto _I thought with a smile on my face. And then Naruto punched.. Naruto?

I sighed; Kakashi-sensei must've used Kawarimi to switch places.

"You're Kakashi-sensei in disguise! You thought you could fool me by turning into me!" Yelled Naruto, and started punching the other Naruto. Then, it turned into one big group fight between all the Narutos, each assuming that the other was Kakashi-sensei. Apparently sometime during the fight he got the idea to end the jutsu, and when he did it was just Naruto. He had beaten the shit out of himself. I facepalmed. _Idiot._ And then he saw a bell on the ground. _No. Don't do it. It's so obvious that it's a-_ he did it. Naruto was now hanging by his ankle tied with a rope.

There was no way we'd be able to get a bell from him fighting by ourselves. We had to work together. I didn't want to work with Sakura, so I looked over to Sasuke. I didn't think he'd be that up to working together, but if I came up with a plan, maybe I would be able to convince him. The boy seemed to have different ideas, however, as a barrage of shuriken came flying towards Kakashi-sensei.

* * *

**Okay, so here's Chapter 2. The next few chapters and the recently finished chapter 6 will be posted shortly. **

**Guest: I understand where you're coming from- nothing pisses me off more than a Sasuke x Sue story. However, I don't like that you've associated Akemi with a sue when you haven't read anything other than the first chapter. I'm trying not to make her a sue the best I can, so maybe you could read the next few chapters and your opinion would change. Please don't make snap decisions without getting the full story. **

**Translations**

_Dattebayo: _Believe it!

_Nani: _What i.e. 'Sakura and Ino are dating?! Nani?!"

_Kunoichi: _a female shinobi

_Shinobi: _ninja

_Tora: _tiger

_Katon: _Fire. used in fire-style jutsu i.e. 'Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu'

_Taju Kage Bunshin: _multi shadow clone jutsu, Naruto's signature attack


	3. Chapter Three

Three- All for One, and One for All

Kakashi fell to the ground as the shuriken embedded in his flesh and we all gasped in shock. _He was hit. _There was a puff of smoke and a log replaced Kakashi-sensei. _Damn it._ Now he knew where Sasuke was, and I was next to Sasuke so he might see me as well. The Uchiha quickly started jumping through the trees. Mentally debating on whether to follow Sasuke or not (since I _was _planning on trying to work together), I jumped after him. I heard a scream ring through the forest; so he found Sakura. I hastily looked to the left and right of me as I jumped through the branches. Two down and two to go. Well, if Naruto didn't get out of the trap, which I thought he would be able to. I heard another scream, probably from Sakura. I shook my head and ducked as I almost ran into a branch.

()()()()

"Shinobi tactics number two; Genjutsu. Sakura fell for it so easily." I looked down from my perch at Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke who were standing in the clearing.

"Genjutsu, huh? Hallucinatory mind techniques. No wonder Sakura fell for it." Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"But I'm not like them" He continued and I glared at the back of his head. Naruto wasn't that bad of a shinobi if he would just listen, and… I had nothing to say about Sakura. I was alright too.

"Why don't you say that after you get a bell." Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke looked at one another for a moment, and I put a hand on one of my katanas. I knew that Sasuke wouldn't want my help, but I would jump in once they started fighting. That way he couldn't make me leave. Sasuke flung an array of kunai at Kakashi-sensei,and the jonin dodged them with ease. _He missed. I expected better of the great- _then one of the kunai cut a rope and more launched themselves at Kakashi-sensei.

Sasuke was then behind Kakashi-sensei, and landed a kick, which our sensei blocked. He punched, but the jonin blocked that too. Now was my chance. I jumped into the clearing, brandishing my two katana. At that moment, Sasuke turned and landed a kick. reaching for the bells. Quickly Kakashi pushed him away and the two landed several feet away from one another.

"It looks like another's arrived." Kakashi-sensei said, and Sasuke turned to look at me.

"You followed me." It wasn't a question.

"I figured we'd have better odds if we worked together. I didn't want to work with Sakura and Naruto was tied up. You seemed like the best bet." I replied, not denying his accusation.

"Che, you'll only slow me down."

"That's what you think." I said, and ran at Kakashi-sensei.

He blocked my katana with a kunai, and for a moment it was a matter of force; who would give in first? My katana or his kunai? I swept my leg and almost knocked his feet out from under him, but he slid away. I heard Sasuke behind me.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" And my eyes grew wide. I knew fire style, and that was not easy. I used Katon jutsus with my blades, and I knew that was a difficult jutsu. Hell, I'd been training since I was seven, and I couldn't do it. Kakashi-sensei seemed to be thinking similarly to me.

"What? Genins aren't supposed to be able to do that… He shouldn't have enough chakra."

Our fight had paused as we both watched Sasuke in surprise. Apparently, he did have enough chakra.

"Shit!" I yelled as I jumped quickly away.

"Watch where you're blowing that! I almost got hit!" I yelled, but Sasuke didn't seem to care. Fire blazed in the area where we were standing, and I patted the bandages on my left arm, which were singed. The jutsu ended, and smoke billowed from the spot. Kakashi-sensei was nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone!" We hastily looked around to find our sensei.

"Where is he? Above? No, behind?"

"Where is he?" I asked no one.

"Beneath!" Came a voice and a hand grabbed Sasuke's leg.

"Doton: Shinjuuzanshu no Jutsu." He announced and my eyes grew wide. Head hunter? Did that mean..

Yes, it did. Kakashi-sensei was crouched next to Sasuke's head, which was sticking out of the ground.

"Shinobi tactics number three; Ninjutsu. Can't move, right?" Sasuke didn't give him an answer, just turned his head with a 'Hn'. Then Kakashi-sensei started walking away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I yelled, preparing my katana. Kakashi-sensei turned to look at me.

"Oh, I forgot you were there." My eye twitched.

"Where are you going?"

"To catch a food stealer." Was the answer he gave, and then he was gone. Damn it. I had missed my chance. I shook my head at myself and headed over to Sasuke. I crouched down next to him.

"Ano.. I don't know any Doton jutsus, and my Fuuton would probably just cut you to bits. Any ideas?" I asked awkwardly. Sasuke just glared.

All of the sudden, Sakura bursted through the bushes. She paused, looking at Sasuke in shock, and screamed.

"Now it's a severed head!" She yelled, and promptly fainted.

"What the hell?" I muttered, and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

()()()()

Sasuke leaned over and looked at Sakura. How he got out of the jutsu, I didn't know. She blearily opened her eyes.

"Sasuke...kun?" She asked, then leaped and hugged him with yells of 'You're okay!'

"It's almost noon; I'm going." Sasuke replied, and I walked over to him.

"Sasuke-kun, you're still going after the bell?" Sakura asked, not even looking at me.

"Uh, yeah. We are." I replied, making sure to include the 'we'. I was here too. It seemed she finally noticed me.

"You! Leave my Sasuke-kun alone! He doesn't need you to bother him! He has to focus!" She yelled at me, and my eye twitched.

"Evidently, he needs some help. Do you really think a genin will be able to take on a jonin and win? No."

"I don't want your help. And you didn't help me anyways." He replied, looking at me.

"Well if you hadn't nearly roasted me with that Katon it would've gone differently."I grumbled.

"Anyways, I was almost able to get it last time. This time I'll win." He replied to Sakura's earlier question.

"Um.. since we have little time, why don't we give up and do better next time." She suggested, and my eye twitched again.

"Why don't we just try again this time? We have enough time, especially if we work together. Not that I wanted to work with you in the first place." I replied.

"I wasn't asking you, old lady."

"Oi! My hair is natural grey! And it's a flattering color! Hush, Pinky!" This turned into a glaring contest. Sasuke seemed to somewhat agree with me (the earlier statement, not the one about my hair (which did NOT look like an old woman's)) as he glared at Sakura.

"I'm an avenger. I have to become stronger than him." He said, and I looked at Sasuke in confusion.

"I don't have time to fumble around here." Who was he talking about? Who did he want to kill? The bell interrupted my thoughts.

"Damn it. We wasted our time talking." I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance as I spoke. Sasuke walked away in the direction of the bell, and we all walked to our doom.

()()()()

We all sat around the logs, with Naruto tied up around one of the middle logs. Why he was tied up, I didn't know. All of the sudden, our stomachs growled in sync.

"Your stomachs are grumbling, huh? About the results of your training; none of you need to return to the Academy." Said Kakashi-sensei, who stood above us. We all exhaled in relief. _Thank god. _

"Huh? But all I did was faint. Is that okay?" Sakura said to herself. Sasuke hn'd.

"Well that's a relief." I said, a smile on my face. Naruto was childishly kicking his legs up and down.

"Does that mean us four.." Kakashi-sensei smiled; at least, I thought it was smiling. His eyes closed happily and his mask moved.

"Yeah, you four...Should quit being ninjas!" He said, and the smile fell. Wait. What did he say?

"We couldn't get a bell, but why did you have to say we should quit?!" Naruto yelled, and I agreed.  
"Yeah, Sensei! What the hell?!" I yelled in surprise and anger.

"It's because you four are just kids who don't even deserve to be ninjas." Sasuke ran at him and we gasped. Quickly, Kakashi sensei forced Sasuke under him and held him down.

"See? You all are just kids."

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled, eyes filled with rage.

"Do you guys think being a ninja is easy? Why do you think we're training in groups?" Kakashi-sensei asked us.

"What do you mean?"

"In other words, you four don't understand the meaning of this test."

"Teamwork. It's teamwork, right? There's no way we could beat you on our own. That's why I followed Sasuke." I answered him.

"Yes. Teamwork. That's why you're split into groups. If all of you came at me at once, you might've gotten a bell."

"Wait.. Why are you emphasising teamwork when there's only three bells? It'll just start conflict." Sakura asked.

"Exactly. This test is designed to pit you against one another. In this situation, we look for people who prioritise teamwork before themselves. That was the purpose, but you all were pathetic." He started.

"Sakura! You cared only about Sasuke than Naruto or Akemi, even though Naruto was right in front of you and you didn't know where Sasuke was."

"Naruto! All you did was work on your own."

"Akemi! You had the idea, but you chose to work with Sasuke since you didn't like Sakura and Naruto was tied up."

"And you," He looked down at Sasuke.

"You thought everyone else would only burden you and did everything yourself. You didn't even care that Akemi was also in the range of your Katon jutsu." I bit my lip in anger; the bastard had singed my bandages and burnt my glove. Kakashi-sensei continued his scolding.

"Missions are done in groups. It's true that shinobi need individual skills, but teamwork is the most important. An individual act that disrupts teamwork will result in danger or death of comrades. For example:" Kakashi-sensei brandished a kunai and held it to Sasuke's throat.

"Sakura! If you don't kill Naruto, I'll kill Sasuke!" I grabbed a hand to one of my katana; I didn't think Sakura was going to kill Naruto, but if she tried, I'd fight her off.

"That's what happens." Kakashi-sensei said, and took the kunai away from Sasuke's throat.

"After someone getting taken hostage, you will be faced with a difficult decision, and someone will die. In every mission, you will put your life on the line." He stepped off of Sasuke and walked over to the memorial stone.  
"Look at this.. The numerous names carved into this stone. All of these people are praised as heroes in the village." I looked down. My dad and aunt were on that stone. My dad, I never really knew; he died before I was born. But my aunt… Her face flashed through my mind and I clenched my jaw.

"I like that! I've decided that I want my name to be carved on that stone!" Naruto announced, and I glared at him. He was my friend but he was pissing me off right now.

"A hero! A hero! I'm not going to die a useless death!" He continued.  
"Ah, but you see, these were not normal heroes."

"Oh, what kind of heroes were they, dattebayo?" There was a long pause.  
"They were all KIA." Kakashi-sensei said in a flat voice.  
"KIA?"

"It means those who were killed in action." I told him, and his grin fell. The silence was tense. I saw Sasuke clench his jaw and frown, and I was sure I had a similar expression. My head was downcast, my grey hair matching my mood and covering my face. I clenched my fists.

"This is a cenotaph. The names of my friends are carved here as well." There was a pause.

"I'll give you one more chance." We all looked up, momentarily surprised.

"However, the battle for the bell will be much harsher after lunch. Eat lunch only if you are up to the challenge. But, don't let Naruto eat. This is his punishment for cheating and trying to eat lunch early. If anyone feeds him, that person will immediately fail." So that was what he meant earlier by food stealer.

"I'm the law here. Got it?"

()()()()

We were eating lunch, and I felt another punch of guilt as I took a bite. I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed a piece with my chopsticks and stuck it in front of Naruto's face.

"Take some." I mumbled with a blush on my face, looking away. Sasuke quickly followed suit, sticking his bento in front of Naruto.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun… But Sensei just said.." Said Sakura, looking at Sasuke.

"Don't worry. I don't sense him nearby." Sasuke replied and I blushed; I had forgotten to check for Sensei.

"We four are going to get the bells together then?" I asked Sasuke, who nodded.

"It's only going to be trouble if he's hungry." Naruto took the bite of food off my chopsticks. Sakura seemed to debate for a moment, but eventually stuck her bento in front of Naruto, who blushed.

"Sakura-chan… Arigato."

"You don't need to thank me. Just eat, hurry."

"But um…"

"I'm on a diet; I eat less than Sasuke-kun… So don't worry about it." I smiled; maybe she wasn't as bad as I thought.

"But I can't eat it. You'll have to feed me like Akemi did." Sakura blanched at this, eye going wide in shock and rage.

"We don't have time. Just do it." Sasuke said, looking around. Sakura glared at Naruto. _I take that back. _

"I'm only going to do this once. Understand?" I grabbed another bit of rice with my chopsticks and fed Naruto.

"God, if it's such a big deal, I'll do it. I don't mind. I have a six year old cousin who takes bites of my food all the time." I scoffed, and grabbed another piece. Sakura glared at me.

"I already said I would do it." She said, and gave Naruto a bite of her food. Then there was a huge _poof_, and smoke clouded my view.

"You four!" Yelled Kakashi. My eyes grew wide in shock. I pointed my chopsticks at Sakura.

"I blame you for this." I said as calmly as I could.

"But.. But.. Sensei, you said.. That's why they were..-"

"We're a four man team, right?"Sasuke said, surprising us all with his sudden want for teamwork.

"Y-Yeah! We're all together!" I yelled.

"We four are one!" Sakura agreed, apparently letting go of my earlier comment.

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! That's right!" Naruto yelled.

"You're all together.. You are one.." Kakashi-sensei said, and I felt my heart plummet to my gut. I put both hands on my katana.

"You pass!" He yelled with a smile on his face.  
"Wait… What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"You pass."

"What.. Why?" Sakura asked.

"You four were the first. People I had previously were idiots who only listened to what I said. 'Shinobi need to think beyond the normal.' In the world of Shinobi, those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum." Kakashi-sensei explained.

A huge grin was on my face. I looked over to the others and noticed that they were ecstatic too. Naruto looked on the verge of tears, Sakura had a big smile, and I even noticed a small smile on Sasuke.

"He's kind of.. cool…" Naruto said, looking like he was about to cry. _Yeah, _I thought. _He is. _

"We did it! We're Shinobi!" I yelled, a huge smile on my face.

"Let's go home." Kakashi-sensei said, walking away. We followed him, ignoring the yells of Naruto with smiles of amusement.

* * *

**Translations**

_Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu:_ Fire style: great fireball jutsu

_Ano: _Um; i.e. 'Ano... Satsuki-san... would you like to go on a date with me this Friday?'

_Doton:_ Earth style

_Fuuton: _wind style

_Doton: Shinjuuzanshu no Jutsu:_ Earth style: Headhunter jutsu


	4. Chapter Four

Four- Are All Bridge Builders Assholes?

"Sakura, reporting in at point B."

"Sasuke, reporting in at point C."

"Akemi, reporting in at point D." Pause.

"... Naruto, reporting in at point A."

"You're slow, Naruto. Okay, Team 7." Came the familiar voice of Kakashi-sensei over the earpiece.

"The target has moved! Quick, follow it!" Ordered Kakashi-sensei, and there was a rustling in the leaves as we started the pursuit.

"I see him." I whispered.

"Over there." We all moved a few trees closer to the target.

"Distance to the target?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Five meters. I'm ready to go." Said Naruto, and we crouched.

"I am too." Answered Sasuke.

"Same here." I answered into the mouthpiece.

"Me too." said Sakura.

"Okay." Pause. "Go!" And then we pounced. Naruto quickly wrapped his arms around the cat.

"Haha! Got you!" Naruto yelled as Tora squirmed.

"Does it have a ribbon on it's right ear? Is it Tora?" Our jonin sensei asked.

"Yup. It's our target alright." I said as I dodged one of Tora's paws.

"Okay, Operation 'Rescue Tora the Lost Pet' is complete." As Kakashi-sensei said that, Tora dug his claws into Naruto's face. I winced.

"ISN'T THERE A MORE INTERESTING MISSION FOR US TO DO?!" Yelled Naruto and I sighed; It had been about a month since the training exercise with Kakashi-sensei, and missions had been… boring, for lack of better word. Last week it had been weeding Mr. Hatabe's garden and babysitting Mrs. Fujioka's five children. _Five. _This week it had been picking peaches in Old Man Furui's Peach Orchard and once again finding the Fire Daimyo's wife's cat, Tora. I had to say, when I had joined the academy to become a kunoichi, this was not what I had in mind.

"Naruto has a point, Kakashi-sensei. When will we stop doing chores for people and actually do something with a little more dignity?" I asked, exasperated.

"Hopefully soon." Replied Sasuke, since Kakashi-sensei hadn't replied (Naruto had probably made him deaf). I found myself nodding in agreement.

()()()()

I winced as the woman hugged 'Tora-chan' to her chest. The poor cat looked terrified. I looked over to my teammates and found they all had similar expressions. I knew what we were all thinking; _Poor cat. _A month had gone by since we became Team 7, and we had all grown a bit closer. I had made good friends with Naruto, and Sasuke seemed to not hate me (It was hard telling with him; I think he was neutral with me). Sure, some things had changed, but some things hadn't. I still didn't like Sakura (it was bordering on hate) and she still didn't like me, and Kakashi-sensei was late as always.

"Oh, Tora-chan! I was so worried about you!" Exclaimed Lady Shijimi, the Fire Daimyo's wife.

"No wonder he ran away." I said quietly, and Naruto and Sakura nodded. We winced in unison as she hugged the cat tighter.

()()()()

"Now then, Team 7's new mission is..." The Sandaime looked over the list in his hands.

"Watching over Yojyu-sama's boy," My eye twitched.

"Grocery shopping in a neighboring town," Twitch.

"And digging potatoes up at-"

"No!" Yelled Naruto and we stared at him in shock.

"No thanks to all of those!" I nodded.

"I want a more exciting mission!" He continued.

"Choose something else!" To my left Sasuke nodded, and Sakura looked pissed at Naruto; I scowled. Naruto was finally voicing something we all agreed on and she was getting mad at him. What the hell was wrong with her? Kakashi-sensei just sighed. Iruka-sensei stood up and slammed his hands down on the desk.

"Idiot! You are still a novice shinobi! Everyone needs to start with easy missions to gain experience!"

"Naruto has a point though. We've been doing nothing but boring missions for a while now. It's not just him that wants something more interesting." I said, defending Naruto and attempting to get a better mission.

"Yeah! We've only been doing dumb missions lately!" He yelled, and Kakashi-sensei hit him on the head.

"Cut it out."

"It looks like I need to explain to you all what missions are. Listen, a lot of clients come to this village every day. They request things ranging from babysitting to assassinations. On the request list, all their requests are ranked A, B, C, and D according to difficulty. In this village, we separate the shinobi into jonin, chunin, and genin according to abilities. We higher officials assign missions to shinobi according to their abilities. And if we complete the mission, we receive payment from our clients. You all have just become genins, so you get D rank missions…" Hokage-sama continued, but we had stopped listening awhile ago. We knew how missions and shinobi were ranked, and were now being distracted my Naruto telling us about ramen.

"I had tonkotsu ramen yesterday, so I'm going to have miso ramen today." He said.

"Mmm… tonkotsu is pretty good, but I like miso better." I replied, thinking about Ichiraku.

"Listen!" Yelled Hokage-sama.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Hokage-sama." I replied awkwardly.

"You always lecture me like that, Old Man." Naruto said, and I stared at him. Old Man? Yeah, the Sandaime was old, but I wouldn't go calling him that.

"But I'm not the kid who plays pranks anymore!" Naruto said, and turned away from Hokage-sama and pouted. I put a hand on my mouth to stifle laughter and Kakashi-sensei rubbed his head and sighed.

"Okay, I understand." We all looked up at the Hokage.

"If you insist, I will allow you to go on a C rank mission." I grinned widely, and I'm pretty sure I almost hugged Sasuke and Sakura in joy. I would've hugged Naruto too, but he was sitting down.

"It's to escort a certain person." At this, Naruto's shock seemed to have wore off.

"Really?! Who? Who? A Daimyo? A princess?" I chuckled.

"Jeez, calm down Naruto. It's probably not a Daimyo or a princess." I said, smiling.

"I'll bring him in now." Said Hokage-sama.  
"Can you please come in now?" The door opened.

…

"What? They're all kids?" Said an old man, a bottle of booze in his hand.

"Well, he's not a princess." I said to Naruto.

"Oi, is the short one with the stupid face really a shinobi?" Said the man, taking a swig from his bottle. Naruto laughed.

"Who's the short one with the stupid face?" He said with a grin. I stuck my hand out, sticking it on top of his head. I moved my hand over to my head in a straight line, showing that I was at least a good three inches taller than him. I was a about an inch taller than Sakura, and about an inch shorter than Sasuke. He seemed to get it now; Naruto was the shortest one, so he was the one with the stupid face. The blonde's face contorted in rage as he launched himself at the old man with shrieks of 'I'm going to kill you!'. Fortunately, Kakashi-sensei held him back.

"I am the great bridge builder Tazuna. Once we have returned to my country, you will protect me with your life while I complete the bridge." He introduced himself, and my eye twitched; I didn't like this guy.

()()()()

I was in the kitchen finishing dinner when I heard the door open.

"Honey, I'm Hoooooooooome!" Came the familiar joking voice of my uncle.

"I'm in the kitchen!" I yelled as I turned off the stove. I heard his footsteps as we walked into the tiled room and turned around to greet him.

"How was the mission?" I asked with a smile, grabbing the pan of Unadon.

"Good, good… The client was a real bitch though. Oooh, is that Unadon?" I grinned; my uncle loved anything with eel in it. He immediately leaned down and tried to grab a piece, forcing me to pull the tray away from his hands.

"You better back off, or no Unadon for you." I teased, and he took a step back.

"Now now, no need to be so extreme." He said.

"Where's Suzu?" He asked me, pulling on his grey facial hair in thought.

"She's upstairs playing with her dolls. Go get her for me, will you?" I asked, carrying the tray to the dinner table. Uncle did just that. I went back into the kitchen from the dining room to grab drinks.

Our house was pretty big. It was the main family's home in our compound, made for the clan head and their family. Since we were the last of the Hato clan, now we were the main family. Our compound wasn't as big as the Uchiha's or the Hyuuga's, but it was nice. It had a library, several homes, a forge, and a training area. It was hard for me to imagine the place bustling with people that looked like me. You could recognize a Hyuuga by their eyes, an Uchiha by their pale skin and dark eyes and hair, an Inuzuka by their dogs and face paint, and you could recognize a Hato by their grey hair. Our hair was typically a light grey, usually a shade or two lighter than the Hatake's hair. There was a rumor that the Hatakes were related to the Hatos, but it was just a rumor; I was sure that I wasn't related to Kakashi-sensei.

Our clan's skill was kenjutsu. We had our own style of sword fighting combined with jutsu. Fortunately, all Hatos had either wind, fire, or lightning chakra, sometimes two of the three. I myself was blessed with a wind and fire affinity, which was lucky since fire and wind worked extremely well together. My uncle Noboru had wind and lightning, and Suzu… we didn't know about Suzu. I didn't even know if she would choose to be a kunoichi like me. She seemed too kind hearted for that, just like my aunt.

()()()()

I leaned back in my chair, belly full. I let out a contented sigh. Uncle let out a loud burp to my right and we laughed. I playfully reached over and slapped his gut.

"Oi, I'm close enough to smell that, y'know.." I pinched my nose and looked up in mock disgust.

"Oh, my deepest apologies, Madame." Uncle said sarcastically, and I chuckled.

"I have a mission tomorrow, so you'll have to take care of Suzu." I said, voice now semi-serious.

"How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know. We're guarding a bridge builder until the bridge is finished, so I'm not sure. Maybe a week, maybe two weeks. I need to go get my stuff together." I said, walking into the kitchen to rinse my plate in the sink, my family's laughter ringing in the air as Uncle messed with Suzu.

()()()()

"Yosh!" Yelled Naruto as we stepped out of the gates of Konoha.

"Let's go!" He yelled with a happy grin.

"What are you so excited about?" Asked Sakura

"I've never been out of the village!" Replied Naruto and I frowned. Surely, someone had taken him out of the village before, right?

"Hey, will a brat like this really be capable of doing a mission?" Asked Tazuna, and I scowled.

"Why does it matter to you? All we're doing is guarding you. It's not like we have to be very skilled." I growled and saw a faint flash of fear in Tazuna's eyes. What was that about?

"It matters if the shinobi are completely incompetent." He bit back and I glared.

"There's no need to worry. I, a jonin, will be accompanying you." Answered Kakashi-sensei

"Oi! Old man! Don't say bad things about great shinobi! I'm the shinobi who will one day become the greatest Hokage! The name is Naruto Uzumaki! Remember it, dattebayo!" Yelled Naruto, who was pissed at being called incompetent.

"Hokage is the title of the great shinobi in the village, right? I don't think you can do it."

"Shut up! I'm willing to go through any hardships to become Hokage!" Naruto yelled back.

"When I become Hokage, you'll have to notice me!" Naruto yelled back.

"I won't,kid. Even if you become Hokage." Tazuna replied.

"I'm going to KILL YOU!" Naruto yelled, trying to jump at the bridge builder yet again.


	5. Chapter Five

Five- This… Isn't What I Expected

"You're from Wave Country, right?" Asked Sakura from behind me.

"What about it?" Tazuna grumbled to my right. I exhaled in boredom; we had been walking for hours. Hopefully we'd be able to stop soon.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, are there shinobi in that country too?" Sakura asked the jonin next to me.

"No. There are no shinobi in the Wave Country. However, hidden villages and shinobi do exist in other countries, though their culture and customs may be different."

"The five countries of Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, and Earth hold the largest landmass and most influence, and are called the Five Great Shinobi Powers. The Land of Fire's Konohagakure no Sato, the Land of Water's Kirigakure no Sato, The Land of Lightning's Kumogakure no Sato, The Land of Stone's Iwagakure no Sato, and The Land of Wind's Sunagakure no Sato. Only the leader of each village is allowed the title of 'Kage'. The Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Kazekage are known as the Five Kages. They are the shinobi who rule over the tens of thousands of shinobi throughout the countries." Kakashi-sensei finished his lesson and I frowned. Was the Hokage really that powerful? It was kind of difficult to believe that the old man was that strong.

"Oi." We all looked to Kakashi-sensei.

"You all just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?"

"What? No… Of course not. Haha…" I said awkwardly. Yes. Kakashi-sensei put his hands on Sakura and I's heads.

"Don't worry. We won't have any battles in a C ranked mission." He said, eye smile in place.

"I wasn't worried." I grumbled, a childish put on my features.

"Well then we don't have to worry about there being foreign shinobi." Sakura said with a smile. I noticed Tazuna frown. What was up with him? He had been acting oddly.

()()()()

The bridge creaked under our feet as we stepped onto the wooden planks. It had been about thirty minutes since our conversation, and I was still getting bad vibes around Tazuna. Something about him made me uneasy. We left the bridge and arrived once more on ground. As we walked, I noticed a puddle on the ground. _That's strange… _But, I didn't give the mysterious puddle much thought. Someone might've dropped their canteen or something, and we weren't very far from the river. Hmm.. I would've thought it dried up by now, it was really hot. Confused, I kept on walking.

There was a loud noise and next thing I knew, Kakashi-sensei was wrapped in spiky chains.

"Sensei!" I yelled. They pulled, and he was reduced to a pile of gore. A squeak left my mouth and I covered it with my hands. I couldn't believe- He-He really- _No, calm down. Deep breaths, Akemi. You're a kunoichi. If.. If you can't handle someone….. dying, why'd you become a shinobi? _I forced myself to calm down. They were behind Naruto now. _Move. Move, dammit. Move your legs. _I commanded, and began shakily walking, and eventually running. A shadow fell on me and I looked up to see Sasuke, who had leapt to help Naruto. He pulled out a kunai and shuriken, and threw them, pinning the chains to a tree. He landed on the two shinobi, and broke the chains. I pulled out my two katana and began running, but the two split up. One was going towards Naruto, and the other was going towards Tazuna and Sakura. Which one did I go for? I decided. _Sorry, Naruto. _ I blocked the shinobi's attack with my left katana, and I charged up the blade with chakra. The blade immediately was cloaked in flames, and the man stepped back before the flames could burn him. As he did, I swung my right katana at him, slashing his thigh. The cloth ripped, and red blood flowed out of the shallow cut. I went up to him to continue the fight, but suddenly, the shinobi wasn't there anymore.

"What?" I asked, and looked to my right. The two of them were trapped by Kakashi-sensei. My mouth fell open in shock.

"Hey."

"Kakashi...Sensei." I said in shock, a smile on my face.

"Wait.. Then that was.." Naruto said looking over to where we thought he had died. It was a pile of logs. Kawarimi.

"Naruto, sorry for not helping quicker. I got you hurt…. I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move." Kakashi-sensei said.

"Anyways, Sasuke, Akemi, good job. Sakura, you too." He said, and I remembered how she had went to block the attack with her own body. Maybe she wasn't as bad as I thought. Naruto seemed lost in thought.

"Oi." Said Sasuke, and Naruto looked at him.

"Are you hurt… Scaredy cat." Sasuke teased.

"Back off Sasuke, it was our first fight. I'm surprised I was able to move at all. Don't act all high and mighty." I said with a frown, and brandished my bloody katana at him. He looked like he was about to retaliate, but kakashi-sensei intervened before we started fighting with each other.

"Naruto! Their claws are dipped in poison. We need to take it out right away." Kakashi-sensei said.

"We have to open the wound and leech out the poisoned blood. Don't move too much, or the poison will spread throughout your body. By the way, Tazuna-san… We need to talk."

()()()()

"These guys are chunin class ninja from Kirigakure. They are shinobi known to keep fighting, no matter the cost." Kakashi-sensei said, gesturing to the shinobi tied to the tree.

"How did you detect us?" The one on the right said, scowling at us. I scowled back.

"It hasn't rained in the past few days, and today it's sunny, so a water puddle shouldn't exist." Kakashi-sensei answered. _The water puddle… _I frowned; if I had focused on it more, maybe Naruto wouldn't had gotten hurt. If I had put more thought into it, maybe they wouldn't have attacked us at all.

"Why did you let the kids fight when you knew that?" Tazuna asked, and for once, I agreed with him. I didn't mind fighting, but it was a little cruel to let us think he had died. My legs were still shaking slightly.

"If I was up to it, I could've killed these two in the blink of an eye. But... I needed to know who the target of these two was." Kakashi-sensei said, and I frowned. It was Tazuna, right? Why would they be after us? We were genin.

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked, and I again found myself agreeing with the old man.

"In other words, were you being targeted? Or someone from our team? We have not heard anything about you being targeted by shinobi. Your request was to be protected from armed groups like gangs and robbers. This is a mission that's above B rank." At this I gasped. What was that old man doing? Why did he lie about something like this?

"Our job was to support and guard you while you completed the bridge. If shinobi are our enemy, this is an expensive B rank mission." Kakashi-sensei continued and it suddenly made more sense. Tazuna probably couldn't afford a B rank.

"You have your reasons, but it only troubles us if you lie in the request details. This wasn't part of the mission." Kakashi-sensei said.

"This mission is out of our league." Sakura said.

"We'll be fine. Kakashi-sensei is a jonin, and we aren't helpless. The only problem is…" I trailed off in thought. If whoever hired these guys found out that they failed.. They'd send out someone stronger. These two were chunin, so the next would be jonin. I gulped. Kakashi-sensei was a jonin, so we would be fine. I thought. I didn't want to have to rely on him to protect us, but we didn't really have a choice.

"Let's quit! It's out of our league. We need anesthesia to take the poisoned blood out of Naruto. We need to go back to the village and see a doctor!" Sakura yelled.

"This sure is a burden. Let's go back to the village to heal Naruto." Kakashi-sensei said, and I was about to object when Naruto interrupted me by shoving a kunai in his hand.

"Naruto! What the hell?" I yelled.

"Why am I so different….. Why am I always… damn it! I should be stronger… I've finished lots of missions and practice techniques every day. I'm never going to do something that requires someone to help me. I'm never going to be frightened and try to back out of things…" He said.

"Um… Naruto.." I said, pointing to his hand which was gushing out blood.

"I'm not going to lose to Sasuke. I vow that to this pain in my left hand, dattebayo." He continued, not listening to me.

"I'm going to protect the old man with this kunai! The mission is still on." Naruto finished with a pained smile.

"Naruto, it's nice that you took out the poisoned blood so spiritedly, but.. you're going to die from blood loss if you lose any more blood." Kakashi-sensei said, and there was an awkward silence. And then, Naruto freaked out.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Naruto yelled, swinging his hand around and slinging blood on us.

()()()()

The sky was dark and the fire crackled from it's place in front of me. I awkwardly shuffled closer to the flames to warm my body, sighing in relief when warmth flooded me.

"Ah, it feels so good to stop walking. Especially after what happened." I said, laying down and relaxing on the grass. I didn't get a reply, not that I was expecting one. I was mostly talking to myself.

"What do you guys make of this?" I asked, gesturing to the sleeping Tazuna. Naruto scratched his head with his bandaged hand.

"He shouldn't have lied, but we can't go back. We told him that we'd guard him and protect him, and I never go back on my word." Naruto said, for once talking quietly so we didn't wake the bridge builder.

"Neither do I."

"I'm glad he lied." Sasuke suddenly said. We all looked at him, and the flames cast shadows on his face.

"If this had been made a B rank, we never would've gotten it. Those two were chunin, so if there's more, next is a jonin. We get to test ourselves. I can't wait." He said, clenching his fists in what I guessed was anticipation. I stared at him for a moment, before letting out a short laugh.

"That's the most I've ever heard you say." I said, grinning at him.

()()()()

"This mist is so thick I can barely see anything." Sakura said, turning her head as she looked around.

"I can't see shit." I said, attempting to see past the boat. We had woken up at five this morning, walked to the shore, gotten on a boat, and had been stuck in this bloody mist for an hour. I was tired, and I had to pee. Bad.

"We should be able to see the bridge soon." Said the boatman.

"Thank god."

"If we move along the side of the bridge, we'll be in the country of Wave."

I saw a large structure through the mist up ahead and gasped. The bridge. Fucking. Finally.

"It's huge!" Naruto yelled in amazement.

"Yeah." I said faintly.

"Oi! Be quiet. we're using this boat in the mist and I'm rowing instead of the engine to hide. In other words, if we're caught, we're in trouble." The boatman said, and we shushed.

"Tazuna-san.. Before we get to the pier, there's something I need to ask you. The identity of the ones after you and the reason they're after you." Kakashi-sensei asked, and I looked at the old man.

"Or, we can call this mission off when we get ashore." Tazuna sighed.

"It looks like I have to tell you the real story."

"As you said, this mission is most likely out of your job description. An extremely terrible man is after my life. You should have all at least heard of the name… Marine transportation billionaire Gato." Tazuna said, and Kakashi-sensei's eyes went wide. Gato… the name was familiar.

"You mean the one from the Gato Company? He's one of the richest men in the world." Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Who?" Asked Naruto.

"Yes. He is the president of a Marine Transport company on the outside… But underground, he uses gangs and shinobi to smuggle drugs and contraband goods. He also does nasty jobs like takeovers of other companies and countries. A year ago, he set his sight on Wave. He entered this country using violence and wealth as a shield, and he quickly took over the country's sea traffic and transportation. On an island like Wave, controlling the sea means controlling the wealth, politics, and people. And the one thing that Gato is afraid of… Is the completion of the bridge that's been under construction for a long time." Tazuna finished, and we looked up to the bridge. It was hard to think that such a simple thing like a bridge could cause all this fighting.

"I see. So as the one building the bridge, you became an obstacle." Sakura concluded.

"So those shinobi were sent by Gato." Sasuke said, and I nodded.

"I guess now he realizes that chunin won't cut it." I said quietly, and Sasuke nodded.

"But I don't understand. Why did you leave this out of the request?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Wave Country is not a wealthy land. Even the Daimyo doesn't have much money. And we do not have much either. We don't have the money for a B rank or higher. If you quit your mission after I land, I'll be killed for sure while I go home. But there's no need for you to blame yourselves." Tazuna said, and my eyes narrowed. He was trying to guilt trip us.

"Only my cute little grandson will cry and cry some more. And my daughter will just hold a grudge against Konoha shinobi and live a lonely life. But it's not your fault." He finished, and I scowled.

"So.. You want to talk family?" I asked, suddenly angry.

"Have you heard of the Hato clan?" I asked, not really wanting an answer.

"All that's left of them is me, my uncle, and my cousin. Our clan's money has dwindled away over the years, and we have only a small amount left. Up until I became a genin, we were barely scraping by. My uncle is a jonin and is always gone on missions to feed us, so I have to juggle taking care of my five year old cousin and going on missions. If I die, who will take care of little Suzu? If I die on this mission, my uncle will have to quit his life as a shinobi to take care of Suzu, and will have to find work somewhere else. My family relies on me. I'm the only mother figure Suzu has since her mother died when she was two. Imagine what would happen if I left her." I ranted, letting out a breath when I was done. Everyone was staring at me now.

"But no, it's not your fault. Let's just get this mission over with. We said we'd help, let's help." I grumbled, and that was that.

()()()()

We glanced down at the terrified rabbit underneath the tree. Naruto had been fooling around and threw the kunai where he 'sensed someone' and it landed right above the rabbit's head. Funny, I would've thought that rabbits would be brown this time of year. I wonder what type of rabbit it was…

"Everyone! Duck!" Kakashi-sensei yelled, and we hit the ground. The next thing I knew, a huge sword flew through the air over my head and landed high up in a tree ten feet away from me. A man stood on top of it. He had bandages wrapped around his mouth, and his skin a dark yet pale tone. A Kiri hitai-ate was tied around his head, and he looked very familiar. Where did I recognize him from? I looked at his sword, and suddenly I knew.

"Oh my, my, you're Zabuza Momochi, the nukenin of Kirigakure no Sato." Kakashi-sensei said and I paled.

"One of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist." I whispered to myself, and Sasuke sharply turned his head to look at me, as did Sakura.

"Stay back, everyone." Kakashi-sensei said, sticking his arm out to stop us.

*Flashback

_A young Akemi sat in the living room with her Uncle Noboru. She could hear sounds coming from the kitchen, where her Aunt Kaori was cooking dinner. _

"_Tell me more about being a shinobi!" Akemi said, bouncing on the couch. Her uncle chuckled._

"_You want to know about being a shinobi? Are you going to be one?" He asked and Akemi nodded._

"_Yeah! I'm gonna be a strong kunoichi and kick people's butts! Just like you!" Akemi said, making kicking and punching motions._

"_Well what do you want to know?" He asked playfully, picking her up and setting Akemi on his lap._

"_Tell me more about those swordsmen from… uh.." She asked._

"_Kirigakure?" He asked and Akemi nodded furiously. _

"_Yeah!" She said, a grin on her face._

"_Well, one of them is named Zabuza Momochi. He uses this huuuge sword, called Kubikiribocho." He started._

"_How big is Kubi..kiri..bo..cho?" She said, struggling with the name._

"_Kubikiribocho is as tall as me, and just as wide!" He said._

"_Nuh uh, you're lying! No way!" She yelled._

"_Yes way! He's so strong, he can hold it with one hand, and he is a master of using it." He said._

"_Just like you with your swords?" Akemi said._

"_He's even better."_

*Flashback End

I gulped; my uncle had told me about the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist, and I had read about them on my own as well. Right now it would be best for Sensei to handle it, and if he needed help we could all jump in later. But one thing was for sure; there was no way we'd be able to beat him by ourselves, even if we worked together. We needed Kakashi-sensei for this one.

"Why?" Yelled Naruto in response to being held back by Kakashi-sensei.

"Listen to Sensei, Naruto. This guy's different." I said, keeping my eyes on the Swordsman.

"Looks like one of you has some sense. I hope they don't all act like him." Said Zabuza

"If he's our enemy…. I need this." Kakashi-sensei said, and began to pull his hitai-ate up.

"I'm guessing you're Kakashi of the Sharingan." Zabuza said, looking at Sensei. _Of the sharingan? _I looked at Sensei in confusion, and saw Sasuke look at Sensei angrily and confusedly. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. Sasuke was an Uchiha. The _last _Uchiha. To hear that somebody used the Sharingan, the prize of the Uchiha, would be confusing and possibly infuriating. I wouldn't be angry, but I could see Sasuke being pretty pissed.

"I'm sorry, but I need you to hand over the old man." Zabuza said from his sword perch.

"Everyone, form the Swastika formation. Protect Tazuna-san" Kakashi-sensei said, his voice deadly serious. We immediately complied.

"Don't join the battle." He said, and I knew this would bother Naruto.

Kakashi-sensei lifted his hitai-ate, revealing an eye that was blood red.


	6. Chapter Six

Six- Sharingans and Strangulation

Those that recognized it (namely me and Sasuke) gasped. The revealed eye was deep red with three tomoe circling the pupil.

"Ah, I am honored to see the famous Sharingan I have heard so much about." Zabuza said.

At this point, I could tell that Naruto had no idea what was going on- and I couldn't blame him. The only reason I knew anything about the Sharingan was because I had been taught about the clans when I was younger, and I vaguely remember the Uchiha. They used to be all over the place, since they were Konoha's police force at the time. It was hard to believe that Sasuke was all that was left.

"Sharingan, Sharingan! You keep on saying that, but I have no idea what you're saying!" He yelled in frustration. I opened my mouth to explain, but Sasuke beat me to it.

"Sharingan… the eye creates it… and it is the power that the pupil generates.. Those who use doujutsu are said to be able to see through all genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, and cancel their effects. Sharingan is one of those doujutsus. But, that's not all the Sharingan can do…"

"Correct." Zabuza started.

"Perhaps the scariest part of the Sharingan is that it can understand how the opponent's technique works and copy it."

"Woah.." I said under my breath. I knew that they could track movements, but copy them? That was… amazing.

As Zabuza finished talking, the area filled with mist. I couldn't see anything. The nukenin's voice came from a sourceless location, making every hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"When I was part of Kirigakure's assassination squad, you were listed in the bingo book." Zabuza started, and my eyes grew wide. My perverted, lazy sensei was in the bingo book? I realized that I really knew nothing at all about him.

"It also noted this… That you are the man who has copied over 1000 jutsu, Kakashi the Copy Ninja." At this point my mouth was agape.

"No way… Kakashi-sensei's that good of a shinobi?" Sakura said, shocked.

I looked over to Sasuke, who was on my right. His eyes were wide, and he had a deep frown. It was actually a funny looking expression, and I might've laughed if the situation wasn't so tense. He was probably as confused as I was about Kakashi-sensei's doujutsu.

"Enough chatting. I really need to kill that old man." Zabuza said, and we immediately surrounded Tazuna. The others had their kunai out, but my hands were on the handles of my katana. We could keep Tazuna safe while Kakashi-sensei fought with the nukenin. We had to. It was our duty, as shinobi.

The mist thickened, and then he was gone.

"He's gone!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Sensei.. just who is this guy?" Naruto asked.

"I suspect that Akemi could tell you, but Zabuza Momochi was once in Kirigakure's ANBU. He was known for his silent killing techniques." Sensei explained, and my eyes grew wide with terror. Earlier, with the chuunin, I wasn't that worried. But this guy…. He was out of our league. Way out of our league. I gulped. I stole a quick glance at my teammates. Even Sasuke, usually indifferent, looked on edge.

Eventually the mist grew so thick that we couldn't even see Kakashi-sensei.

"Sensei..?" I asked quietly. No response.

"The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart." Echoed a voice around us. The air was thick with mist already, but it seemed to get denser from the amount of killing intent floating through the air. I felt as if I was choking.

"Now, what vital organ do you wish to be struck at?"

The mist was so thick, I couldn't see anything. And it was only getting denser. Sensei had used some of his chakra to help clear up the fog, but I still felt suffocated. I couldn't breathe. All I could smell was blood, and the mist was heavy with the assassin's killing intent. I had heard of killing intent before…. but this was insane. _I'm going to die here… _I thought panickedly. _I can't stand it… If I stay here for any longer I'll go insane…. This feeling… _ One wrong move and I would be dead, just like that. The clearing was silent, but I felt as though I was screaming. I couldn't take it.

"Akemi." Said Kakashi-sensei, and I stared. I had forgotten about Sensei.

"Don't worry. I'll protect all of you with my life. You won't be harmed. Put down the kunai." He said, and I looked down at myself in shock. While I had been panicked, I had poised a kunai to stab directly into my gut. I took a deep breath. So _this _was the power of a jonin. Insane….

I looked over and saw that Sasuke had a similar terrified, hopeless expression on his face. His kunai was gripped tightly in his shaking hand, and his pale knuckles were white. Naruto had a tense expression, and his jaw was clenched tightly. Sakura stood, eyes wide in open terror. I'm not going to lie; I was glad that I wasn't the only one affected.

"Don't worry, you four. No one on my team will die." Kakashi-sensei said, and he smiled at us. _But what about you, Sensei? _I wanted to ask. Zabuza spoke before I could say anything.

"Now, I'm not so sure about that."

He appeared right behind at that moment. I gasped in shock and quickly dived away from him as Kakashi-sensei came barreling towards the nukenin, Sharingan flashing. I dug the heels of my feet into the ground and pulled out my twin katana. But Kakashi-sensei had already struck. Liquid poured out of a stab wound in Zabuza's gut. Only it wasn't blood. It was water.

"Mizu Bunshin.." I said to myself.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto yelled.

"Die!" The real Zabuza yelled, and slashed Kakashi through the middle with Kubikiribocho.

"Sensei!" I yelled. But it seemed Kakashi-sensei had already planned ahead; he had been nothing but a clone. Now the real Kakashi was behind the real Zabuza, a kunai to the assassin's throat.

"Wow.." I said breathily. Sakura shrieked in amazement. And then Zabuza did something unexpected. The bastard started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked in anger, but immediately regretted it as I remembered just who this man was.

"You don't understand. You can't beat me with just your cheap copies. But I'll admit, you're pretty good. Drawing my attention to your clone by making it talk, and then hiding in the mist… clever. However.." To our horror, another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi-sensei.

"However… I'm not that easy to defeat."

"That one's fake too!" Exclaimed Naruto, and I growled.

"No shit, Naruto!" I yelled

And that's when the real fight began. Kakashi-sensei was launched into the air, and Zabuza began to pursue him. Sensei landed in the water, and then Zabuza started making hand seals. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but at that moment, Kakashi-sensei was trapped in a sphere of water. And then a water clone of Zabuza appeared right in front of us.

"The four of you have hitai-ates on as if you're real shinobi. But a true shinobi has been through numerous life or death situations. In other words, you can call yourself shinobi when I see you in my bingo book." The mist thickened again, and then Naruto, who was on my right, was sent flying through the air.

"You aren't shinobi. You're just a bunch of brats."

"Naruto!" Sakura cried.

"Everyone! Take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi-sensei commanded us.

"He can't move as long as he has me locked in this prison! Run for now!" He yelled. I just shook my head; there was no way to get away. I wouldn't leave even if I could. We had to save our Sensei.

Suddenly, Sasuke ran at Zabuza's clone. I pulled out my two katana and followed. He threw several shuriken at the nukenin and jumped. While Zabuza was distracted, I dashed in and aimed for a low slice along his abdomen, infusing the blades with chakra to ignite the metal. As Sasuke went downward towards Zabuza, the jonin reached up and grabbed the Uchiha by the throat. As he did so, Zabuza twisted and dodged my attack, hurling Sasuke into the earth several meters away. If I was more skilled, I would have been able to match his speed and attack again. But, I was only a genin, so I was slow and inexperienced. I had overshot on the attack, and I was about to fall from the momentum of my swing. Zabuza's foot swung out and knocked my feet out from underneath me.

I shrieked as I landed flat on my back. Immediately there was an intense pressure on my throat and I opened my eyes; Zabuza had his foot on my throat and was slowly pushing harder and harder. I couldn't breath. I reached my hands up and attempted to push his foot off my neck, but he was too strong. He pushed harder in response and I began to choke. I couldn't breathe… I couldn't breathe. My arms were getting heavier. Angry tears stung my eyes and I gritted my teeth. My vision was getting darker. I was going to die here….

My eyes closed and I heard muffled yelling. It was a familiar voice. Naruto? There was a loud noise, and then I heard the yelling of what sounded like a lot of Narutos. Kage Bunshin? _Be careful, Naruto.. _

The sound of fighting was the last thing I heard before I passed out.

()()()()

When I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar place. I squinted at the bright sunlight that filtered through the windows. I tried to turn my head to look around the room, but immediately gasped in pain. My entire neck was engulfed in pain. It was only a dull throb when I lay still, but as soon as I turned it bursted into sharp pain. I sat up and immediately noted that my weapons were gone. Where were my katana? My kunai and shuriken?

I wearily stood up and placed a hand to my head. I was so dizzy… Taking unsteady steps, I walked out of the room. I passed one more door and then found myself at the top of a staircase and groaned; this was the last thing I needed right now. I placed my left hand on the bar and uneasily made my way down the wooden steps. At about half way, I heard voices coming from a nearby room.

"...When do you think Kakashi-sensei and Akemi will wake up?" That was Sakura.

"I'm not sure. Kakashi's probably tired from using the Sharingan… but Akemi…" Sasuke.

I stepped into what I assumed was the kitchen and leaned against the doorway.

"Hey guys…. Don't count me out yet." I wearily shuffled and sat myself down at the dining table across from my teammates.

"Akemi!" Naruto said with a huge smile.

"You're awake!"

"Seems so." I said with a small smile and winced as my neck ached. I raised a hand to my throat. My voice was hoarse and dry. I felt like I had inhaled sawdust.

"What did I miss?"

* * *

**Okay, so here is the long awaited Chapter Six! As soon as I finish uploading this, I'll get to work on Chapter seven. I went back and read the previous chapters, and I feel like my portrayal of Akemi might be a bit different now, but she isn't. I felt like this was a really serious chapter, so Akemi wasn't going to be cracking jokes in the middle of a fight. Did the battle scene sound okay? I have little to no experience writing fight scenes. I tried to make Akemi seem skilled (for a genin), but not overly so. I imagine that Zabuza would have no problem handling her and Sasuke combined, even if they did do a quick attack like that. **

**I want you guys to tell me if she seems OOC or anything, or if she's starting to sound like a Sue. The last thing I want is to end up writing a mary-sue fic, so if that happens, notify me immediately.**

**Translations**

_tomoe: _They're like these little swirls that look like commas. When Kakashi opens his Sharingan, he has 3 tomoe, or commas, that swirl around his pupil

_doujutsu: _like... eye jutsu. They're usually a Kekkei Genkai, and they can see through genjutsu and such. i.e, the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Rinnegan

_Kubikiribocho: _Zabuza's execution blade. Y'know, the freakin' huge sword Zabuza swings around

_Mizu Bunshin: _water clone. Physical, like a shadow clone, but not quite as effective

_Kirigakure: _The Village Hidden in the Mist

_Kage Bunshin: _Shadow clone


	7. Chapter Seven

Seven- Bucket-Headed Brats and Tree Climbing

"So *cough* after I passed out you two finally got over your petty rivalry for a moment and forced Zabuza to free Sensei?" I said, not being able to repress a smile.

"Good job, you two." I said with a smile.

"Hn. What rivalry." Sasuke said rhetorically. I just rolled my eyes.

"You know what I meant."

Tsunami placed a bowl of soup in front of me and I smiled gratefully. Since I had literally stumbled out of bed earlier, my teammates had explained what had happened and had introduced me to Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter. Tsunami was great. Really. From the moment I had woken up I had felt like shit, and my mood had reflected that. But as soon as I sat down at her table, she gave me a warm towel to wrap around my neck and a hot bowl of soup. She was so kind and motherly. For a moment, I was reminded of my mom. Well, not my mom, per se. My mother figure, Suzu's mom. She had died shortly after giving birth to Suzu. My aunt Kaori had always been very fragile. She had curly brown hair and big black eyes that somehow lit up every time she smiled, which was a lot. After giving birth to Suzu, she had been very sick. I guess her body just couldn't take it.

"I'll go check on Sensei. Thank you for the soup, Tsunami." I said with a weak smile, and left to find the gray-haired jonin. When I entered the room, Kakashi was wide awake, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"You're awake." I said, sitting on the floor.

"How are you feeling?"  
"I overused my Sharingan and probably won't be able to move freely for a week."

"Well, I'm glad you're okay."

"How long was I out?"

"Don't know. I woke up just 30 minutes ago."

"I'll go tell them you're awake." I said, standing up and walking out of the room. My dizziness had gone down since I had woken and eaten.

"Hey guys, Kakashi-sensei's awake." I said, and Sakura and Naruto quickly went up the stairs, Sasuke calmly walking.

"Sensei! You're awake!" Naruto yelled.

"I'm sorry." Said Kakashi-sensei

"What for? You kicked Zabuza's ass. Naruto and Sakura told me that he died. We should be fine for a while." I said, confused.

"That reminds me. Who was the boy in the mask?" Sakura asked.

"What boy?" I asked over Naruto's question of 'That was a boy?'

"He was a hunter nin. Their job is to take care of bodies and to erase any evidence that the shinobi was once alive. A shinobi's body holds many secrets. For example, if I die, the secrets of the Sharingan will be examined. And, in a worst case scenario, my jutsu and techniques, including the Sharingan will be stolen. Anyways, hunter nin track down nukenin and dispose of the body after killing them." Kakashi-sensei said, then frowned.

"What's wrong, Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I just realized… Hunter nin are supposed to eliminate the body on site."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked curiously.

"What did the boy do with Zabuza?"

"He took the body." Answered Sasuke with a frown.

"Exactly. All he needed to do was bring the head back for proof. Also, he used senbon, which is questionable." Said Kakashi-sensei.

"With senbon, it's really easy to miss your target. Why'd he use those to kill him?" I replied, recalling the time I had attempted to use the needle like weapon. Instead of the target, I ended up shooting three senbon into my uncle's behind. Behind me, Sasuke gasped.

"Because he didn't want to kill him. The boy was working with Zabuza." Sasuke concluded.

"What are you talking about?" Said Tazuna frustratedly.

"Zabuza's alive." I said, eyes wide from this new revelation.

"Senbon are very precise and hunter nins know a lot about the human body. The boy probably put Zabuza to a death-like state and carried him off." I said, voicing our conclusion.

"So how are we going to prepare if you can't move, Sensei?" I asked. The jonin chuckled.

"I'm going to put you all through training."

"But Sensei, even if we train, how will that help us? He was so strong that even you had trouble with him." Argued Sakura. _She has a point, _I grudgingly admitted. Sure, training would help, but we wouldn't be able to do much against Zabuza.

"Sakura, who helped me when I was in trouble?" Asked Sensei.

"You four are growing at a rapid rate. Especially you, Naruto. You've grown the most." Kakashi-sensei continued and I frowned a bit. I hadn't really done much; all I did was pass out. And Sakura…. I don't know what she did. Nothing, probably. Sakura and I still didn't see eye to eye with each other. He was right about Naruto, though. He could barely make a decent bunshin in class, and here he was, saving his jonin sensei. Oh, how things have changed.

"You're right, Sensei! Things are getting interesting!" Naruto said excitedly.

"No they're not." Said a childish voice from behind me. We all turned around.

There was a little kid, maybe 8 or 9, with dark black hair and a…. bucket on his head? Anyways, he was glaring at us. I glared right back at him. I was usually pretty nice to kids, but I could tell this one would do nothing but piss me off.

"Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna said with a smile, for the first time.

"Okaeri, Grandpa!" He said happily, and ran and give Tazuna a hug.

"Inari, say hello. These are the shinobi that escorted Grandpa." Said Tsunami. I gulped back my irritation and gave a slight smile.  
"Hi, I'm-"

"Mom, they're going to die. There's no way a person can win against Gato." He said, interrupting me. My eye twitched. I saw Sasuke looking over my with a small smirk on his face.

"What did you say, gaki?!" Naruto yelled.

"Listen up! I'm a great here that's the strongest shinobi there is! The hokage!" Naruto said.

"There's no such thing as a hero." The child said indignantly and I furrowed my brow. What had happened to him to make him have such a bad outlook on life?

"Nani?!" Naruto yelled, pouncing at Inari. Fortunately, Sakura wrapped her arms around him and held him back.

"If you dont want to die, you should hurry up and go home." Inari said, walking out of the room.

"Where are you going, Inari?" Asked Tazuna. The boy paused.

"I'm going to go watch the ocean." He said, and left.

()()()()

"Right. Now we'll begin training. But first, let's talk about chakra, which is the base of our ability as shinobi." Kakashi-sensei began. I groaned; we had had this drilled into our heads from day one of the academy. We didn't need to cover it again.

"Ooh! I know this! Chatra, right?" Okay, I changed my mind. _Naruto _needed to go over it again. I coughed.

"_Chakra, _Naruto. Not _Chatra" _I said.

"Okay, Sakura, Akemi, explain it to Naruto."

"Ohay, Naruto. Chakra is special energy we have inside our body to use jutsu." I began.

"We get more chakra by collecting energy from our body's cells, and from training." I continued.

"Inside our body, it is the combination of Body energy and Spirit energy that we can form chakra to use to execute a jutsu. To mold chakra." Sakura finished. I didn't know about the last part. Sakura must've read that on her own to show off to Sasuke.

"Showoff." I muttered under my breath. The pinkette turned and glared at me. Whoops. She heard. I didn't care.

"Why do we need to know this when we can use jutsu anyway?" Naruto complained.

"I agree. It's just redundant." Sasuke grunted.

"No, you guys aren't able to use your chakra completely." Said Sensei.

"Nani?!" Yelled a certain blonde. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Like Sakura said, to mold your chakra, you must extract both of those energies and combine them inside your body. And the amount of energy will differ based off of the jutsu that you use. In other words, the ratio will be different. You are not yet able to use your chakra effectively. Even if you can mold a lot of chakra at once, if you don't have the ratio correct, the jutsu will fail or only be half as effective as you wanted. Wasting energy will create a weakness of not being able to fight for a time." Sensei explained

" To learn how to mold chakra effectively, you four must go through rigorous training that may put your life on the line." Said Kakashi dramatically. Sakura gulped.

"What are we going to do?"

"Climb a tree." I smacked my palm against my face dramatically. He got us all worked up for something as simple as climbing a tree.

"But, it's not ordinary tree climbing. Allow me to demonstrate."

Kakashi-sensei made a handsign and began to hobble over to the nearest tree. He continued to walk straight up to the tree… and he kept walking. Only this time, he was going straight up the trunk, on crutches.

"What? How?" I asked in shock.

"This is how. Gather your chakra to the bottom of your feet and attach it to the trunk of the tree. The way this practice will help you is by helping you to learn where to accumulate chakra. It is difficult, even for a skilled shinobi, to gather the right amount of chakra in the right place. The next hardest part is maintaining the correct amount of chakra. Basically, if you can master this skill, you can learn any jutsu., in theory. However, I doubt that you will accomplish this." Kakashi-sensei finished. I grinned.

"Well, let's get to work, then." I said with a big smile.

()()()()

This… was proving difficult. The marks I had made with Kakashi-sensei's kunai were not nearly as high as I wanted them to be. Granted, they were higher than Naruto's or Sasuke's, but Sakura had made it to the top of the tree with ease. I had to make it to the top. I sat at the base of the tree, panting. I took a deep breath (which hurt, as my throat was bruised) and took a few steps back. I concentrated my chakra to my feet, and started to long, I was back on the trunk. I managed several steps and it looked as though I was going to make a new record. I got maybe a step or two in ahead of my old record before I heard the loud _crack _of the trunk under my foot. I hastily marked my progress and landed back on the hard ground with a thud. Ouch.

At that point in time, I noticed that Naruto had walked over and asked Sakura for help. That certainly surprised me. I always thought Naruto would be too prideful to ask for help. To my left Sasuke gave a deep sigh of frustration. I pinched my lips together. Should I help him? Remembering how prideful the Uchiha were, I decided not to. However, I did say something that might make him happier.

"Y'know, Sasuke, this just means that you have a lot of chakra. It's harder to control your chakra when you have a lot. Plus, girls naturally have better control of their chakra. In turn, boys start out with more chakra. So not being able to control it very well right now is a good sign."

And it was true. From what I could tell, Naruto had the largest amount of chakra, which was surprising. I thought it would be Sasuke. I had the third largest. I was around three feet ahead of Sasuke, but I still had a good amount of since I came from a clan of shinobi and had been training for years. Sasuke and Naruto would have more chakra than Sakura or I could ever attain. I could live with that, though. I didn't need huge reservoirs. The Uchiha stared at me for a moment with a blank, yet pleased (not quite sure how he managed that, but he did) look on his face. Just past the treeline, I saw Inari walking away from us.

()()()()

Late the next day I was walking through the streets of the city with Sakura and the bridge builders to get supplies. I hadn't quite reached the top of the tree yet, but my progress was good enough that Kakashi-sensei went ahead and told me to go with Sakura to guard the bridge builders. I looked around and all I saw was poverty. The streets were laden with filth and many people looked as though they hadn't eaten in days- which I didn't doubt.

"Where are we going?" I heard Sakura ask.

"I have been asked to get ingredients for tonight's dinner." Replied Tazuna.

We entered the grocery store and I was shocked to see that it was empty. There were barely any vegetables or meat. Next to me, I saw Sakura shriek and whack a man in the face with a yell of 'PERVERT!'. However, I heard the man say 'no, I'm not-' before he was kicked out of the store. Maybe he was trying to pick her pocket.

We three walked through the streets on the way back to Tazuna's home when I felt a hand around my rear. _Really? Another? _I said, turning around. I didn't care if it was a pickpocket or a pervert, both would get a- I stopped. It was a little girl with bright blue eyes. She stuck her hands out with a wide, toothless grin.

"Give me?" She said childishly. I bit my lip; I didn't have that much money in the first place. But.. she looked so thin. Her collarbone jutted out harshly and her lips were dry as though she hadn't drank in days. I sighed and reached into one of my pockets, searching for my money bag. When I found it, I pulled out 30 ryo and gave it to her along with a few pieces of candy I had stashed away.

"Here. Use it well." I said with a small smile.

"Arigato, neechan!" She said with a grin before running away through the masses of people. I looked over to Sakura, whose face had a stricken expression that I was sure mirrored mine.

We had to finish that bridge.

()()()()

That night, I stood out several meters away from the others and the trees, attempting to successfully execute a jutsu I had been working on for months. In the Hato clan, since it was common for us to have a combination of wind and fire chakra, we had our own jutsu that were combinations of the two (wind and fire went together really well). The simplest way to start out learning the combination was to do them separately. It was easy to do the jutsu separately; the hard part was combining them. It was, by far, the hardest jutsu I had ever tried to learn. Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my shuriken. I was about to throw them when a familiar voice stopped me. Yelping out of surprise, I turned around.

"Hey." Said Sasuke. The Uchiha wouldn't look me in the eye.

"What is it?" I asked rudely; I had just now gotten the chance to practice and now I was interrupted.

"You were the second fastest to climb the tree. I didn't want to ask dobe… Do you have any tips?" He said with a slight pink tinge to his cheeks. I pinched my lips and tried to suppress a grin: the mighty Uchiha was asking _me,_ of all people, for help. But I could tell he was embarrassed, and I didn't want to push it. I cleared my throat (ouch).

"Well, you have to keep calm. That probably sounds silly, since you're _always _calm, but try not to be tense or get mad at Naruto. Ano... take your time gathering chakra at the bottom of your feet. Don't get too hasty. If you do particularly good one time, try to use the same amount of chakra the next time. You have to be conscious of how much chakra you're gathering every time. And when you change amounts, make it slight. Control is very… delicate." I explained, struggling to use the right words.

"Ne, Sasuke…. you're good at katon jutsu, right?" I asked awkwardly. I didn't really want to ask for help, but he was an Uchiha; if anybody could help me, it would be him. They _were _skilled in katon jutsu…

"Why do you ask?"

"Well… there's this jutsu I've been trying to learn, and I have to combine these two jutsu… but I can't do them quick enough. I was wondering if you could help me, since you seem to be good at katon." I rambled, embarrassed. I should've been able to do the jutsu by now…

Sasuke paused for a moment, then spoke.

"What do you need me to do?" He said with a sigh.

()()()()

"Okay, so I'm going to use Fuuton: Senkai Buredo, and you're going to use Katon: Kasai Nagure. You go first after I throw the shuriken, and then I'll go. Okay?"

"Okay."

I took a deep breath, and threw five shuriken into the air. As Sasuke executed his side of the jutsu, I made the familiar hand signs for mine.

"Fuuton: Senkai Buredo no jutsu!" I yelled, and the flaming shuriken were now small balls of whirling flames, powered by the small cyclones of wind encircling them. The fire quickly went out as the remaining oil burned away and I stopped my jutsu. A huge grin graced my face and I turned to face the Uchiha.

"It worked! Did you see that?! We did it! Months of work, and all it took was you! Ha!" I said.

"I would hug you right now if it wouldn't be awkward!" I yelled, completely ignoring my usual filter.

"So what jutsu was that?"Sasuke asked.

"Well, those two combined form Fuuton: Moeru Ha no jutsu. You see, if I was doing it by myself, I should've been able to ignite the shuriken with my chakra like I do with my katana, and then I would've used to jutsu to spin the air around the flaming shuriken, thus completing the technique." I said, still smiling.

"Thanks for helping me. I just wanted to see if it would work if I had someone else working with me. Go back to the trees". I said, gesturing to the kunai-marked trees where Naruto was still running.

* * *

Over the next few days, we all trained ourselves the best we could. I had eventually reached the top of the tree, and Sasuke and Naruto had made amazing progress. During the day I was in town or on the bridge with Tazuna, and during the nights I was practicing my kenjutsu and the little ninjutsu that I _did_ know, besides Fuuton: Moeru Ha (I was trying not to piss off Sasuke and/or interrupt him and Naruto's competition). So far, I was making small, but consistent progress.

I pulled out my two katana and took a deep breath. I shifted my body into the first stance I was taught.

"Fuuton: Ken'nomai no jutsu" I said, and my blades immediately appeared to grow longer. Condensed air blew around the blades in tight coils and the air buzzed with energy. I danced and twirled and sliced and jabbed with my swords, the air mimicking my movements. The grass and topsoil of the land around me was scarred and wounded from my patterns. Already, a faint sheen of sweat covered my forehead; this jutsu always wore me out.

This was a trademark jutsu of the Hato clan, like the Goukakyu no Jutsu was for the Uchiha. Every shinobi of the Hato clan had to learn that at some point in time. The more we used it, the larger our range grew. Right now my range was around five feet. It wasn't that much, but I had to start somewhere; my uncle Noboru had a range of around twelve meters. I heard yelling behind me.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Dinner!" Sakura yelled.

I slipped my katana back into their sheaths and followed the rivals back into the house.

* * *

**Hey guys! I told you I'd start on Chapter 7, didn't I? :) This one is longer than the other chapters, and I would've kept going, but this seemed like a good place to stop. So I figure that since Akemi's part of a shinobi clan, they've got to have some form of jutsu, even if they don't really have a Kekkei Genkai (the whole infusing chakra into the blades could be counted as one I guess, but I'm not counting it as a Kekkei Genkai). So now we can see what our little gray-haired genin can do besides climb a tree. Do you think her jutsu are too strong for a genin? Personally, I think they're fine, considering that she can't do the jutsu she did w/ Sasuke by herself yet, and her range isn't very far for the second jutsu. **

**However, if you think they're too strong I can figure something else out for her to do. Please tell me if anything else seems off or unusual, any OOC-ness or Mary-sueness.**

**Translations**

_Nani: _What? i.e. 'NANI!? Ichiraku doesn't sell Miso Ramen anymore?!'

_arigato: _thanks

_neechan: _big sister

_katon: _flame/fire, used when announcing jutsu i.e. 'Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu!'

_fuuton: Senkai Buredo: _Wind Style: Whirling Blade; when used on shuriken/kunai the weapon spins in a mini cyclone surrounded by air

_katon: Kasai Nagure: _Fire Style: Fire Stream; shoots out jets of fire in small strands, hence the 'stream'

_fuuton: Moeru Ha: _Wind Style: Blazing Blade; weapons that this jutsu is used on ignite and spin quickly like little balls of fire (The flames are fanned by the strong flow of air)

_fuuton: Ken'nomai: _Wind Style: Sword Dance; basically harsh winds wrap around the blades and lengthen the damage of the swords. It's like, if you swung a sword, the air/wind around the sword would do damage to the ground/person/item that could be a good distance away. The wind also shred anything it comes in contact with. That's why it's such a powerful jutsu for the Hato clan. The more experienced the user, the more powerful the winds are and the longer the range.

_dobe: _dead last. Sasuke's nickname for our resident blonde.

**Merry Christmas! **


	8. Chapter Eight

Eight- We Strap Ourselves in for a Ride on the Emotional Roller Coaster

I awkwardly sat at Tazuna's dinner table, staring at Naruto, who was sitting across from me, and Sasuke, who was sitting to my left. I had been in the middle of raising my spoon to my mouth when I noticed the Uchiha and Uzumaki were eating as fast as they could with looks of determination marring their features. They were literally shoveling their meals into the mouth at a rapid pace.

"Geez, slow down you guys. I puked the last time I ate that fast." I said, recalling my 7th birthday with a shiver. The cake had been so good….. Of course, they completely ignored me. If anything, they began to eat faster. I sighed and continued to eat my food at a normal pace. Suddenly, at the same time, the two stood up and yelled for seconds. I looked at them in astonishment; I was only halfway done with my bowl. In sync, the two glared at each other and immediately turned and puked. A bowlful of half digested rice and vegetables was now on my pants, soaking into my clothes.

"What the f-hell?!" I said, remembering that Inari was at the table. I immediately jumped out of my chair. Everybody was staring at me now and the room was filled with an awkward silence. I felt hot with anger.

"I told you guys to slow down. But did you listen? No!" I yelled. I could feel a vein popping in my forehead.

"If you're going to eat to give yourself energy, don't freaking eat 'til you puke! That completely gets rid of the purpose! Sit your asses down, and eat like normal people. I'm going to clean myself up." I said with an angry growl, and made to leave the kitchen. I took a deep breath.

"Tsunami, I didn't bring a change of clothes. Could I borrow some of yours please?" I asked, attempting to calm down.

()()()()

I sighed as I pulled on one of Tsunami's dresses, noting how it was way too big on me. I may have been tall for a girl my age, but Tsunami was a fully grown woman, and her clothes were bound to be big. Tsunami had already deposited my clothes into her washing machine, so I would wear her dress until my outfit was clean. I looked down at the dress and then to my gear. Where the hell was I supposed to put my kunai now? I would just hold it, I guessed. It wouldn't take that long for my clothes to wash. I stepped out of the spare bedroom and walked back down into the kitchen where I could hear my teammates and hosts talking.

"This torn part looks like someone was ripped out..." I heard Sakura say as I entered the room. Tazuna and his family all stiffened.

"It's my husband." Said Tsunami. Oh.. it made more sense now. Did he leave her or something?  
"He was known as the hero of this town." Tazuna said. Oh.. nevermind.

At this, Inari left the table. Then he left the house. Tsunami immediately left after him.

"Dad, I told you not to bring him up in front of Inari!" She said, leaving out the door. Tazuna answered our unspoken question.

"Inari had a father that he wasn't related to. But they were very close, like father and son." I looked at the picture and noticed that Inari, who was usually grumpy, had a huge smile on his face.

"Inari used to smile a lot back then." Said Tazuna as he gazed at the torn picture.

'"But… But…" Tazuna's voice started to shake. I turned my head to him and saw that he was crying.

"Inari changed after the incident that happened to his father." What incident? I wanted to ask, but I didn't want to interrupt.

"After that incident, the people of this island and Inari no longer believed in the word courage."

"What incident?" Sensei asked.

I took a breath and braced myself; this was going to be a long night.

* * *

The next morning we sat at the table, eyes half open, still half asleep. Sakura's head was tilting dangerously close to her breakfast and my fingers were slow and sluggish as they combed through my long hair. Sasuke, as usual, seemed unaffected. He casually ate his breakfast in science. I just yawned and brushed my hair out of my eyes. As I was about to dig in, I noticed that the room was quiet. Too quiet.

"Where's Naruto?" I asked

"The idiot's been tree-climbing every night, trying to catch up to Sasuke-kun." Answered Sakura. Tsunami's brow creased with worry.

"A child staying out all night?"

"No need to worry. He's a decent Shinobi, even though he doesn't look it." Replied Kakashi-sensei. I snorted.

"Ain't that the truth?" I said with a chuckle. Sakura laughed.

"Dobe barely knows which end to point the kunai." Sasuke said wryly. My eyes grew wide in shock. Did the statue just crack a joke?

At this point Sasuke noticed us staring at him and resumed eating in silence. I couldn't hold back my giggle. The expressionless Uchiha, of all people, joins in on my joke. Sasuke's dark eyes darted up to my face before going back to his food. Sakura burst out laughing.

"That was hilarious, Sasuke-kun!" She said with a wide grin, which faltered when her dear Uchiha didn't spare her a glance.

"He has a point, Kakashi-sensei. Maybe Naruto really is dead." Sakura said. After this, I guess Sasuke was done eating, because he stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets, and began to head for the door.

"Sasuke?" I asked

"I'm going for a walk." He said, and the door closed behind him. I returned to my food and took a few bites before I paused, frowning. What Sakura had said had bothered me. What if Naruto was lying dead somewhere? I stood up.

"Thanks for the food, Tsunami. I'm going to go look for Naruto." I said and walked out the door.

()()()()

I walked through the woods, searching for the familiar blonde. So far, he wasn't by the training grounds, the shore, or anywhere remotely close to the house. So now I was walking through the woods looking for him. I passed the next couple of trees and a woman walked past me with a basket of herbs. As she continued on through the woods I stopped and turned my head to look at her. I looked her up and down. Something about her was familiar. I shook my head; I had probably seen her around town somewhere.

()()()()

Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and I stood in a clearing, searching for any sign of Naruto. I was starting to get worried. Suddenly, a kunai flew down and landed at our feet. I immediately went to grab my katana, but then I remembered that I was still in Tsunami's dress. I had no weapons.

Fortunately, it was just the person we were looking for.

"Naruto!" I said with a smile. He grinned down at us from an upper branch.

"Hey Akemi, Sakura-chan!" He yelled. The knot of worry in my stomach dissipated, and suddenly I was mad.

"Where the hell were you! I was worried!" I yelled.

"How do you like that! I can climb to the top of the tree now!" He said, completely ignoring me. I sighed. I could never stay mad at him.. Naruto stood up and waved. I waved back. Suddenly, he started to lose his balance. He started to fall and my heart plummeted into my stomach. This high up…

But instead of falling, he hung upside down from the tree branch and started laughing.

"You fell for it!"

"You scared me!" Yelled Sakura.

"Naruto…." I growled.

And then he really fell.

"Naruto!" I screamed. We all screamed. I began to run towards the tree in hopes of catching the blonde, but a blur of blue flew up the tree next to Naruto and caught him mid-air.

"Way to go Sasuke-kun! You amaze me!" Yelled Sakura. A relieved smile broke out on my face.

"Sasuke…. thank god." I said with a sigh.

()()()()

That night during dinner, we all sat at the table, excluding Sasuke and Naruto, who were presumably still outside training.

"They're late." Said Sakura anxiously.

"I can understand why Naruto's late, but Sasuke?" She continued. I gave an aggravated sigh.

"Y'know, Sakura, Sasuke isn't this perfect being. He has to practice to get better just like the rest of us. You would know that if you yourself actually trained once in a while." I said abrasively. While it was true that I went with her and Tazuna for most of the day, I trained before and after we left. She, however, didn't train at all. Before Sakura could bite back a reply, the door flew open and our two team members walked in the room, holding one another up.

"What's with you two? You look really dirty and tired." Said Tazuna. Naruto gave a weary smirk and chuckled.

"We both made it to the top."

"Great." Said Kakashi-sensei.

"Sasuke, Naruto, next time you can both guard Tazuna with the girls." He continued. I grinned; I really was proud of both of them.

"Yosh!" Yelled Naruto with a large grin, and in his excitement he made himself and Sasuke fall over. Sasuke scowled and touched his head.

"Idiot." I chuckled at this.

"Now, don't push yourselves too hard." Said Tazuna with a smile. Suddenly his face turned serious as he turned to Sensei.

"I've been meaning to ask…. Why are you still here when you know that I lied about the contract details?" He asked. Sensei paused for a moment.

"Not doing the right thing when you know it's the right thing is the way of a are no weak soldiers under a valiant commander." He said. I thought about this. He made a good point. I was mad that Tazuna had lied, but I understood why he did it. I had been thinking over the last few days. Of course, I didn't want to die, but when I thought about it, maybe it was worth it if I was saving someone I cared about. I don't think I would ever put myself in harm's way unless I thought I would be okay in the end, but after thinking about this, I was more comfortable with the thought of meeting my end.

And besides, I trusted my Sensei.

"They're the teachings of the previous Hokage." Kakashi-sensei finished.

It was at this part that I noticed Inari had begun to cry.

"Why…." He said in a shaky, timid voice.

"Huh?" Asked Naruto. Inari slammed his hands down on the table.

"Why are you trying so hard to end up like that?! You can't beat Gato's men, even if you train! No matter how much you say those tough words, weak people are going to lose to strong people!" The boy screamed. My eyes and mouth were wide open. The entire room was silent in shock. Naruto just turned and shrugged.

"Shut up. I'm nothing like you." The blonde said. I winced; Naruto had no tact…

"Shut up! It pisses me off when I watch you! You don't know anything about this country, and you're so nosy! I'm different from you, someone who knows no real pain and laughs all the time!" Inari screamed through his tears. I clenched my teeth. Little did he know, just about all of us had been through some shit. Naruto's face instantly grew dark.

"Is that why you're pretending to be the main character of a tragedy and just crying? An idiot like you can just keep crying. You crybaby." Naruto said in a flat voice. Sakura immediately turned to him.

"Naruto. That was too much." She said. I kind of agreed with the both of them. It may have been too much, but I felt that it needed to be said. Instead of replying, Naruto just stood up and walked away. Inari stood at the end of the table, sobbing. I clenched my teeth. I wondered if I should say something. I _wanted _to say something. But looking at Inari's tear streaked face, and the tense expressions of the people around me, I kept my mouth shut. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. I just stood up and left.

()()()()

That night, none of us were quite up to talking. I sat on my futon, sharpening and polishing my kunai. Anything to distract me from the ghosts that had been brought up today. I loved my Aunt Kaori. She was the only mother figure I had ever had. She had always been very fragile; you would never guess that she was a kunoichi. She had barely made it into chuunin, but her genjutsu was what had made her valuable. Aunt Kaori was very skilled in genjutsu, and it was the only reason she was still a kunoichi. What she lacked in physical strength she more than made up for in illusionary prowess. After giving birth to Suzu she had been very sick, but was adamant about continuing her shinobi duties, at least for a little while.

I remembered the day she left for only her third mission after Suzu had been born. She had kissed us goodbye and ruffled my hair, and then she left, not knowing that was the last time we would ever see her alive.

The door opened and I suddenly remembered that I was not alone. Sasuke walked into the room, the last of my team to leave the kitchen table. he sat down on his futon on the other side of the room, laid down, and closed his eyes. Naruto, for once, had nothing to say. I recalled what it was like when we were younger. When we were little, and had not a care in the world, Naruto was suffering more than ever. I knew that he had no friends, but I still didn't talk to him. Why, oh why, didn't I talk to him? Maybe just one friend would've spared him the pain. I heard a sharp _clang _and looked to see that in my thought I had sharpened my kunai too harshly and had broken my whetstone.

I gave a harsh, angry sigh and threw my kunai into the wood panelled floor. After wiping my clammy hands on my pants I pulled my dove grey hair back into a loose ponytail and laid down on my futon, shoving my face into the rough fabric. I wrapped myself up in my blanket and pretended that I wasn't being eaten alive with guilt and the echoes of memories.

* * *

***nervously sweats* Is it okay? Too much? Too little? Personally, I kind of like it, but I aim to please, so give me some input! I can't give you guys what you want unless you tell me what you want, so review, review, review! **

**Is it growing boring? Emotional talks not your thing? I gotchu. If everything works out nicely, next chapter should be chock-full of blood, gore, and _emotional trauma_ *cough* battle scenes. I mean battle scenes. **

**And now, I present to you, a shitty Valentine's day Omake to make myself feel less guilty! Yay!**

Fireworks lit up the night sky as Konoha celebrated the last day of their Summer Solstice festival. Akemi sat on the roof of a dango shop, dressed in a red kimono with a dark navy obi. As she stared up at the night bright sky, which was lit with numerous bursts of colorful light, she felt a presence behind her. The kunoichi didn't turn around, and showed no sign of surprise. A gentle smile graced her face.

"I was wondering when you would show up." She said gently. The boy moved to sit behind her and wrapped his arms, which were clad in dark blue kimono sleeves, around her. Akemi sighed and snuggled closer to her visitor.

"Isn't it beautiful?" She said, light blue eyes turned upward at the sky. The arms wrapped tighter around her and she felt his head nestle into the crook between her shoulder and neck. His warm breath fanned out against her skin as a sigh of agreement. Akemi turned to him, her face warm and flushed from his closeness.

"I'm so glad I convinced you to come this year," she sighed happily. "Sasuke..." Akemi turned to face her dark-haired teammate. Their lips were just centimeters away from one another...

**_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_**

Akemi Hato woke with a loud gasp, her face and hands cold and clammy. What the hell was that? The Summer Solstice wasn't for months, and Sasuke? Sasuke of all people? Akemi shook her head. What the hell was wrong with her subconscious? Her and Sasuke? A shudder wracked up her spine. It was then that the kunoichi noticed her radio alarm was still on.

"-and it looks like a lovely Valentine's day morning for Konoha, with sunny skies and a high of 78 and a low of 66, I'm sure that our couples will have an exc-" _SLAM _

Akemi's hand landed on top of the alarm clock with a thud and forced it into silence. She sighed and rubbed her hands with her face. Maybe she was just lonely. She looked outside to the sunny skies and heard the sound of children playing and birds chirping. Akemi shook her head with a laugh. She was getting all worked up for nothing. Her and Sasuke? As if.

* * *

**And that's that for the shitty Omake that I literally just spouted out. Now here we are with your translations and definitions!**

_Dobe- _Our lovely little Avenger's less than polite term for Naruto. It means dead last.

_Yosh- _Alright! Usually used as part of an exclamation of excitement. i.e. 'Yosh! I just got promoted to chuunin!' _'All right! I just got promoted to chuunin!'_

**Until next time, Morria :)**


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